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Usa Today Case Study

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Question 1
Research and update the case information as much as possible with current research, and then conduct a comprehensive SWOT analysis for USA Today.

USA Today is currently the second largest selling daily newspaper in the United States. It started in 1982 with a circulation of 350,000 and grew to over 5.4 million people reading the USA Today network daily (USA Today MRI Demographic Profiles, n.d.). USA Today is popular because of format, colorful pictures and charts, and condensed articles. The paper targeted a different demographic than its predecessors and was able to get more people interested in newspapers than had previously been. USA today grew quickly and appealed to many different age groups because of their attention to not only the current issues but also celebrity news and a strong sports section. USA Today currently has 46% of the market share with total circulation of national newspapers (USA Today MRI Demographic Profiles, n.d.).

When technology began to boom and more people began to get their news from the internet or mobile devices, USA today began to see a decline in revenue and growth. They had to begin to focus on their website as well as a mobile app. Today 68% of USAToday.com and USA Today mobile app users are between the ages of 18 and 49 (USA Today MRI Demographic Profiles, n.d.). This demographic is very important in growing USA Today’s sales as more of the baby boomer generation is retiring and not staying current with the news.

USA today has many strengths which make it very popular among a younger audience. USA Today communicates with readers clearly and directly and it also relates to more people who do not have a strong business background. It is faster to read and easy to handle thanks to its slimmer pages. USA Today offers an online version, USAToday.com that is one of the Internet’s top sites for news and information. It allows readers to receive up-to the moment’s news with colorful visuals, a crisp audio, weather forecasts, travel information and access to the paper archive from the 1980’s to today’s information (O.C. Ferrell , 2012). The paper offers USA Today International, which is available in more than ninety countries in Western Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. USA Today is widely distributed via newsstand retailers, large grocery store chains, bookstores, home delivery, hotels, airport terminals, e-formats from the web page, mobile phone access and e-mails updates (USA TODAY Products, n.d.). USA.Today.com has added blogs, RSS and podcasting to ensure that its news stays relevant to busy and mobile readers. The paper has been continuously improving and updating its offer to conform to its target customer’s needs.

Some weakness that USA Today have are the mobile customers that uses the internet cannot receive updated news in real time unless they have access to an RSS-enabled mobile service. USA Today printed products only have a one-day shelf life. The decline of paper reading. The availability of free online articles and free online news without a subscription. The USA Today has a wide range of coverage that does not target on specific market. Decrease in revenue from less advertisement participation (O.C. Ferrell , 2012).

The opportunities that USA Today have are providing news as it happens by uploading it to the internet. As internet readers increase, USA Today can save money on using less paper, ink, and can downsize company overhead. Also, some salary expenses can be eliminated with the decrease of operating cost. A decrease in operating costs will open up the opportunity for future investments in internet media. Set distribution from internet media which provides a guaranteed advertisement community and a steady income from advertisements.

Some threats that USA Today face are cheaper advertisement opportunities. One of the biggest threats is competition from other free news on the internet and news sites the offer news without a paid subscription. There is an increasing threat from the FCC that increases regulations on how the internet providers provide and charge for internet access to both consumers and companies that are providing data through the internet provider’s lines. These regulations are targeted more toward streaming services, but there might me some unintended consequences that come from these regulations for USA Today.

References

O.C. Ferrell & Michael Hartline (2012). Marketing Strategy, 5th edition,
SouthWestern/Cengage Learning.
USA TODAY MRI Demographic Profiles. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/media_kit
USA TODAY Products. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from https://service.usatoday.com/products.html

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