Company chief Gordon Borrell posts that newspapers will experience a 2.4-per-cent growth in 2010 and single-digit growth beyond, totalling 8.7 per cent over 2009 levels by 2014. Interestingly, he foresees growth in local advertising.
"True, it all equates to more of a dead-cat bounce than anything else," Borrell writes. The $55-billion advertising piece for papers will be about $30 billion in five years.
But Borrell notes a real change in the industry.
"This once-fat, gray caterpillar that we knew as the “major daily newspaper” is turning into a smaller, more delicate, colorful local magazine, with fair prospects for growth. The smaller newspapers are firmly entrenched in their niche of providing rich local content that people seem to prefer in print – rather than screen – format."