With many media reports focused on the challenging business environment for the general news industry, one segment of that industry deserving more attention is college news organizations (CNOs). Plunging readership, the fight for ad dollars, declining funding support and a preference for editorial independence are all contributing to a difficult time for college newspapers today and in the future.
Much like the broader news industry, more CNOs have adopted a proactive business model, becoming more entrepreneurial and developing and implementing various strategies to diversify and increase revenues.
A new study from the Penn State Daily Collegian Alumni Interest Group thoroughly presented college newspapers’ current perils and opportunities. The study is the work of a 12-person research team (11 of which are Daily Collegian alumni) headed by Bob Buday, author and CEO of Buday Thought Leadership Partners, and Bill Guthlein, a business planning, financial and data analysis consultant and principal at WJG Associates.
When they learned the university was cutting funding to the 137-year-old, independent newspaper, they acted, launching a comprehensive study of 33 independent, nonprofit CNOs. They wanted to understand the current situation in college newspapers, reveal those experiencing some success and share strategies to help all those in jeopardy. Student Monitor, LLC’s Eric Weil, managing partner, contributed research about students’ campus newspaper reading habits.
According to Buday, CNOs face a troubling dilemma. “Student Monitor found, in a 2022 survey, that only 8% of students were reading the print edition of a campus newspaper, and 18% were reading the online edition. That’s not good. Of the 33 newspapers we studied, not one of them was charging for the print or digital edition or even a special edition. If students are charged to read a newspaper, however, it could lose funding from student activity fees and suffer even more readership decline.”
The constant struggle for money
Two sobering statistics from the study are the substantial decline in average annual revenues and average annual advertising revenues for CNOs. The 2006–2007 academic year was the high point for these two critical revenue streams in the past 23 years.
The peak in average annual revenues at 22 of the 33 college news organizations in the study was $1,195,172. By 2022–2023, the average had decreased 58% to $498,625.
The decline in average annual ad revenues was even worse, or 73%, from $997,091 to $262,820, respectively.
College news organizations couldn’t be in a worse demographic setting to gain readers and advertisers. Multiple studies find young adults obtain most of their news from social media, and in a college setting, they are more likely to learn about campus news and events from their peers via social media. As the Penn State Daily Collegian Alumni Interest Group study stated, “Social media and smartphones dismantled your monopoly on deciding what was campus news ... and how it could be distributed.”
The other sources of funding one might expect to support CNOs are donations from college newspaper alums and general alumni and philanthropic gifts. The aggregate annual contribution to the 33 CNOs was $5.2 million for 2020–2021 but then declined to $3.7 million for 2021–2022. By comparison, the 19 years from 2000–2001 to 2018–2019 averaged less than $1.5 million.
“In some cases, an independent CNO may be receiving support from the university, and in other cases, it’s not. It’s great to be independent journalistically, but if you receive less financial support from the university, then your job is much more difficult because you must obtain that financial support from other sources,” Buday said.
As this chart shows, contributions are needed, but they are a small portion of these 33 CNOs’ revenue sources.
Finding a path forward
It should come as no surprise that college news organizations have painted themselves into the same corner as legacy newspapers. The advertising-dominant business model is insufficient, and readers prefer a greater diversity of news and information and new delivery methods. According to the study, too many CNOs are still operating as they did decades ago:
CNOs are learning they must operate differently to generate the needed revenues not just to survive but to expand their offerings to a more diverse audience. The most successful have a modern business model, are more entrepreneurial and utilize the skills of non-journalism students, outside contractors and professional consultants.
The Chronicle at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, is one of these forward-leaning college news organizations. Chrissy Murray has been the CEO of The Chronicle since 2008 and represents the kind of management change necessary to transform a traditional college newspaper into a business-oriented CNO. She has a degree in journalism advertising from the University of North Carolina and then served as advertising director of The Daily Tar Heel for 11 years before joining The Chronicle.
“I don’t think a CNO must have a professional executive. It depends on whether the current student staff is willing to include product thinking and audience thinking in what they do. The editorial staff must be more entrepreneurial and think like a digital news organization. Having a strong business operation has been essential for us,” Murray said.
Michigan State University’s The State News has also been successful with a professional executive at the helm. Christopher Richert has been the general manager for more than six years, having previously been the general manager of student publications and adjunct professor of advertising and marketing at Columbia College Chicago for 19 years.
“We have a very robust readership on our campus. It may be because we have a building with a big State News sign on the top of the second floor across the street from the Michigan State campus. Combined with that brand awareness, we are involved in many sponsorships on campus, such as Sparticipation, a student welcoming event. Students also receive our weekly or bi-weekly e-newsprint paper as a PDF,” Richert said.
The study ranks both CNOs very high in several revenue/business categories. The Chronicle is first in advertising and contribution revenues and second in profits. The State News ranks first in total revenues, profits and assets and second in advertising revenues.
During the 2021–2022 fiscal year, Duke’s median ad revenue per student at the university was almost $40, compared to an average of $6.72 for the 33 CNOs in the study. A “student subscription tax” at Michigan State University is a substantial funding source for The State News. In 2018, a referendum was passed, increasing The State News student tax from $5 to $7.50 per enrolled student. The student tax total was slightly more than $700,000 during the most recent fiscal year.
“The money from our student tax can only be used for student-related costs at The State News, such as printing, travel to cover sporting events and payroll for the students who work in the newsroom. The fund is held at Michigan State, and I can draw on an account with thorough documentation of its use,” Richert said.
More than a news business
Another crucial component of The Chronicle’s and The State News’ high rankings is offering additional services and other revenue-generating news products.
The Chronicle followed the lead of many news organizations and launched Pitch Story Lab in 2017. With a team of approximately 20, the advertising agency provides marketing, content creation and promotional services, primarily for on-campus entities, such as departments at the Duke University School of Medicine. Revenues for Pitch Story Lab were approximately $150,000 during 2022–2023.
“We were very thoughtful about developing the Pitch Story Lab. We interviewed professors and met with career services on campus to ensure students would be interested in Pitch projects. The students learn on the job with supervision and training, but most know how to do video and social media and have basic design skills. We have no trouble hiring students; we turn people away,” Murray said.
Another revenue generator for the Chronicle is nearDuke.com, a site launched in 2017 to help students find off-campus housing. Property owners pay a fee to appear on the site, and the Chronicle realized almost $90,000 in the 2022–2023 fiscal year.
The State News’ entrepreneurial thinking led it to launch a business unit over 15 years ago, initially developing a website and content management system, SN Works. Today, SN Works provides additional learning opportunities and jobs for computer science, web development and interactive multimedia majors. It developed the product used to manage the nearDuke.com site.
“The content management system was originally developed just for the State News. However, as it continued to evolve, we realized that other news organizations may want to use our web hosting development and CMS. We currently have more than 100 collegiate clients and a few commercial clients,” Richert said.
SN Works’ six-person team has two full-time developers, a full-time project manager and a salesperson. According to Richert, SN Works generates almost $300,000 in annual revenue, although it generally breaks even financially with Amazon Web server fees, wages and other costs. He emphasized, however, that the learning opportunities are invaluable.
Interestingly, the State News owns two commercial buildings and rents space to other tenants, creating another alternative revenue source.
A blueprint for success
The Penn State Daily Collegian Alumni Interest Group study identified the challenges and success stories of several CNOs but also shared the strategies to help struggling CNOs. The study recommended that CNOs focus on revenues, increasing readership/viewers, maximizing ad sales, increasing fundraising, considering more university support, experimenting with new ventures, examining the option of paid subscriptions and improving governance.
Understanding why most students and others don’t read a college newspaper/news site is a critical step. The Daily Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina hired a consultant to analyze its readership. The study also suggested recruiting a business student for an audience-development role.
Researching the student lifecycle, from enrollment to beyond graduation, can reveal various news products and services to build readership and revenue.
Another recommendation is to think of “fundraising” as “friendraising,” or as the study states, “A long-term game of creating strong and mutually beneficial relationships between current and past staffers.” For example, Richert hired several students to concentrate on the State News’ alumni network to obtain additional contributions.
Ultimately, a shift in the mission and mindset of college newspapers from “the old student newspaper” to a “campus center of digital media innovation” is required to ensure the future of college news organizations.
Bob Sillick has held many senior positions and served a myriad of clients during his 47 years in marketing and advertising. He has been a freelance/contract content researcher, writer, editor and manager since 2010. He can be reached at bobsillick@gmail.com.
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