The 4C’s of Mobile News: Channels, Conversation, Content and Commerce

Abstract

Newspapers are in flux. Having seen their traditional businesses battered by forces that include structural changes fuelled by the rapid growth of networked digital technologies and cyclical shifts in the economy, mainstream news publishers have intensified efforts to adapt their journalism processes and products. However, growing digital revenue streams to match, if not surpass, the losses in print circulation and advertising incomes has proved difficult. A bright—or at least not quite so dim—spot glows from mobile devices. Drawing on data from an annual audit conducted in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, this article examines how 66 metropolitan newspapers in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have performed with respect to channels, content, conversation and commerce (4C's) of mobile news. While findings show the expansion of newspapers’ mobile endeavours, these are uneven and characterised by repurposing existing content and duplicating traditional commercial models.