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With the news that one of the UK’s longest-running motorcycle magazines (Visordown, formally Two Wheels Only) is to cease its print publication to go 100% digital, we got thinking about the future of traditional media. The online vs. print debate has been raging for some time and it’s one that has many arguments but few conclusions.

It is no secret that the internet has increased in power over the last few years, with enormous growth of users and time spent online. More and more people are turning to the internet as a source of instant news gathering rather than waiting for the newspapers to deliver yesterday’s news. A recent survey in the US showed that reading news online is now more popular than reading traditional newspapers, with 61% of people surveyed saying they get their news online in a typical day.

Most consumer magazines and national newspapers have online versions, the majority of which by far outdo their traditional print counterparts in terms of circulation. The Daily Mail now runs two completely separate editorial teams for online and print, with a team of up to 45 people working on the online version at a time. Mail Online has grown from virtually nothing four years ago to 43,119,182 unique users per month (see this recent blog for more details).

The Times has recently started charging for its online content as circulation of the print version declines causing profits to fall and this is a model that other publishers are expected to follow – even though the jury is still out as to the viability of charging for content in a world where most people expect it for free.

Everyone has an opinion on the move to online – whether it will be the end of print media or not – but it is the facts that are speaking volumes. Recent ABC figures for June 2010 show that the circulation figure for every major national newspaper in the UK has declined over the past 12 months. In contrast, all national titles have increased their online unique user figures.

This is just a reflection of online newspaper and does not take into account the countless blogs, websites and Twitter feeds that are becoming more and more a part of everyday life. Whatever the future for print media, one thing is for sure – the internet is now more powerful than ever and can be far more effective in reaching more people in less time than traditional media channels.

Yet despite all this evidence, there is nothing like the lure of the national press for clients, and many still prioritise print media over online.  This begs the question, why?  If the audience is migrating online, why is the caché of print still so dominant?  It remains to be seen where the tipping point lies, but given how readers are changing their consumption habits, it’s surely only a matter of time….