When you’ve had your fill of national politics or are done binge-watching your favorite show on Netflix, we’ve got some interesting features in this week’s Five on Friday, including millennial news consumption, a global browser rollout and streaming music revenue estimates. The Knight Foundation looks at the news behaviors and beliefs of young adults, Google Chrome rolls out its latest version globally, a new study shows that subscription service buyers buy more than expected, textbook publisher Pearson is pushing students toward digital books, and Digital Music News shares streaming music revenue estimates for the year.
News Consumption Behavior of Millennials
A new report by the Knight Foundation shatters the myth that young adults don’t care about the news. The Foundation surveyed 1,660 adults ages 18 to 34 and identified some very interesting trends. Here are highlights from the report:
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88% of 18- to 34-year-olds access the news at least weekly.
- 53% say they check the news daily.
- 97% of those with a great deal of confidence in the news, consumer it on a weekly basis.
- Young adults of all races are primarily digital news consumers, getting their news via social media, smartphone alerts or news websites.
- Hispanics and black young adults are more likely to share news with friends on social media.
- Young adults don’t believe their race or ethnicity is covered regularly in the media.
- Millennials believe even their favorite news sources have either a liberal or conservative slant.
- 57% of Democrats believe their favorite news sources are liberal; 36% of Republicans say their favorite news sources are conservative.
- Ethnic news media is a primary news source for young Hispanic and African American adults.
- More than 6 out of 10 young adults say they rely on their favorite source at least a moderate amount when deciding to support or oppose a policy.
- Close to 3 out of 10 say they rely on it quite a bit or a great deal.
For more highlights and the study’s methodology, read the full report here.
Google Chrome’s Newest Version Includes More Restrictive Ad Blocker
After limited testing in North America and Europe, Google rolled out its new Google Chrome browser in July. The latest version includes an ad-blocker that strips out ads that don’t meet Better Ad Standards, a set of web standards developed by the Coalition for Better Ads. Among the ads not making the cut are any ads that disrupt a reader’s online experience including pop-ups and auto-play video ads.
Google said in its blog that it has stopped selling these types of ads themselves, reports What’s New in Publishing. Those annoying ads are automatically blocked in the newest version of Chrome, but there is a workaround. Users who don’t mind the ads can disable the ad-blocking feature.
Google recommends that publishers who want to improve the user experience for their readers can run their site through their Ad Experience Tool, part of the Google Search Console. The tool scans a publisher’s site – desktop and mobile – for ads that don’t meet Better Ad Standards. The report lists each of the violating ads and gives publishers the opportunity to replace them with user-friendly ads. Learn more about this tool in this video.
2018 Study Shows We Are Paying More Than They Realize for Subscriptions
In a recent story, Natalie Duddridge of CBS2 in New York reveals that people who subscribe to services often spend more than they realize. She quotes a 2018 survey that showed Americans spend an average of $237.33 per month on subscriptions, including everything from music and meal kits to streaming video and grocery delivery.
Technology columnist Joanna Stern said gone are the days where we pay a one-time $0.99 fee for an app. Instead, we are spending monthly recurring fees for subscription service fees. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, as long as consumers are only subscribing to the services they actively use.
Stern recommends that consumers do an audit of subscriptions every year by going through bank statements, credit card statements and emails and reviewing what services we subscribe to. Do we use these services regularly? If not, she recommends unsubscribing immediately. Many times, this process is easy and can be done online or through a mobile interface. Other times, it requires a phone call or jumping through a few hoops to cancel a subscription.
The bottom line: we should only subscribe to the services we use regularly and be aware of how much we are spending. Paying for unwanted subscriptions adds up quickly.
Largest Textbook Publisher to Switch to “Digital First” Approach, Moving Away Print
Pearson, the world’s largest textbook publisher, is making the switch to “digital first,” realizing that print doesn’t pencil out anymore. The British publisher is planning to phase out print textbooks, taking its educational materials online. Students will be able to rent textbooks, and those will not be updated as often, reports the BBC.
“We are now over the digital tipping point,” said John Fallon, Pearson CEO. “Over half our annual revenues come from digital sales, so we’ve decided a little bit like in other industries like newspapers or music or in broadcast that it is time to flick the switch in how we primarily make and create our products.”
Right now, Pearson makes about 20% of its revenue from U.S. educational materials, but to save money, students have been renting used textbooks. As a result, Pearson said they won’t be updating printed textbooks every three years anymore. In 2020, for example, Pearson will only update 100 titles from its catalog of 1,500 textbooks. Digital textbooks are revised much more often.
“There will still be [print] textbooks in use for many years to come but I think they will become a progressively smaller part of the learning experience,” Fallon said. “We learn by engaging and sharing with others, and a digital environment enables you to do that in a much more effective way.”
There are many advantages to digital textbooks, Fallon said. They can be updated easily and can include supplemental materials such as videos. Also, the current generation of students is used to renting products and services rather than having ownership. From a business perspective, this allows Pearson to save money and, by offering textbook subscriptions, the company will benefit from a recurring revenue model. Pearson will apply its new “digital first” approach in the United States first with other markets, including the U.K., to follow later.
Cengage Learning, a competitor of Pearson, hopped on the subscription bandwagon last summer with its Cengage Unlimited subscription. A digital subscription starts at $119.99 per semester and gives students access to more than 20,000 eBooks and 2,300 digital learning products across 70 disciplines. It is not clear if this is the model Pearson is shifting to, but with Cengage’s merger with McGraw-Hill, Pearson may be trying to level the playing field.
Streaming Music Revenue in U.S. to Hit $8.4 Billion in 2019
The Consumer Technology Association’s U.S. Consumer Technology Sales and Forecasts report for 2019 says that U.S. streaming music revenues will exceed $8.4 billion this year. If that turns out to be true, that represents growth of 33%, says Digital Music News. In addition to the continued growth of the streaming music industry, retailers are reporting increases in sales of ancillary products like headphones, earbuds and smart speakers.
Here are a few interesting tidbits from that report:
- Wireless earbuds are estimated to be up nearly 50% in terms of sales volume and revenue this year.
- Smartwatch revenue will be up about 20%.
- Video-streaming revenue will be almost $18 billion this year, a 25% increase over last year.
- Gaming streaming, memberships and microtransactions will generated close to $40 billion, an 11% increase over 2018.
Read more at Digital Music News.