Television Threatening Newspapers' Obit Revenue
Michigan Station Offering TV & Online Coverage to Bereaved Families
Oct 26, 2009
American newspapers are facing the possible loss of another huge source of revenue and readership, the traditional publication of death notices.
First, newspapers lost much of their display revenue to television and then lost much of their classified and subscription income to the Internet. Now they’re on the verge of losing at least some of their obituary revenue to television and websites.
WNEM Sagonaw Pioneers TV Death Listings
According to Ad Age.Magazine, television station WNEM in Saginaw, Michigan began selling obituaries at $100 when local newspapers reduced their publication frequency to just three days a week. Now, the Meredith Corp., owners of WNEM, may expand the service to its other stations and use obitMichigan.com as a partnership website to supplement its TV death listings.
From there, it won’t be a major jump for other stations, especially those owned by chains, to design and/or license their own software to handle the obituaries.
The loss or sharing of the obituary income probably will not come overnight, but considering their current financial struggles, the papers would feel any cutback in revenue. Ad Age says newspaper obituary notices now cost from $450 to $1,000 in major and middle sized markets, less in small markets. However, families often overlook the prices because the listings are usually arranged by funeral homes as part of a funeral package.
Losing Obits Will Hurt Newspaper Readership
The bigger challenge for other television markets will not be the technology, but rather the culture change for the individual communities. Reading newspaper obits is a well-established habit for millions of people, especially senior citizens who jokingly say they check the obits each morning to see if their own names are there. Losing that audience may further impact newspaper readership.
Reading newspaper obits is basically a search process through small type in well-defined sections of the papers. Obits are not the kind of news that will normally pop up on a television screen.
Stations will also have to assure families that the notices will be permanently archived for future generations, as they now are in newspapers and libraries. The new, relatively easy taping of TV shows will give families opportunities to preserve the television listings as well as the website pages.
TV Listings a Public Service in Saginaw
The change in Saginaw was accepted because three area papers discontinued daily publication, endearing viewers to the station for providing the service. In markets where newspapers continue to publish daily, the television movement into the obit business might be viewed as insensitive and greedy.
But death announcements, when carried as scheduled programs, may be greeted with more enthusiasm than they might be on electronic billboards. In Des Moines, Iowa a funeral home is publishing the names, photos and funeral information on five electronic billboards. The outdoor listings recall the posting of death notices on utility poles.
Neither the television nor billboard listings are good news for newspapers, even though the papers can match the television websites as supplemental listings.
Glum Newspaper Layouts
In retrospect, the newspapers have brought obit losses on themselves. For generations, they have published the death notices in small, black type, squeezing as many profiles and tiny pictures as possible into unattractive early 20thCentury-style layouts. It’s a style now out of step with the growing view of funerals as celebrations of life.
Newspapers have abandoned glum styles in most other sections of their papers. In a few years they may regret the neglect of their obit sections.
 |
