The role of a substitute and the newspaper-less move

Newspapers are a great substitute when packing glasses and crockery into boxes, however moving house this week opened my eyes to a newspaper-less environment.

On reflection the Covid lockdown disrupted many traditional businesses and the numbers speak to this, but more worryingly they speak to problems pre-Covid.

First quarter 2020 ABC figures showed double digit declines across daily and weekly newspaper figures.

While in the second quarter, which was hardest hit by the Covid lockdown, only seven of the 27 daily newspapers submitted circulation data, and the numbers understandably aren’t pretty.

But just as video never killed the radio star, so Covid won’t kill newspapers.

So whilst we ended up buying newspapers just to pack, the future of newspapers may need to fast-track a new format.

• Ace and a full pack of cadres, Schools: the new traditional, Jerusalema: song of hope and unity, a petrolhead goes share shopping and more in this week’s BizNews Digest, download the PDF here – https://bit.ly/3kk87og