Newspapers and Magazines

Abstract

We review the Economics literature on Newspapers and Magazines. Our emphasis is on the newspaper industry, especially in the United States, given that this has been the focus of existing research. We first discuss the structure of print media markets, describing the rise in the number of daily newspapers during the early 20th century and then the steady decline since the 1940s. We discuss print media in the context of two-sided markets, noting that empirical papers on the newspaper industry were some of the earliest studies to use the techniques of two-sided market estimation. We then review the research on advertising in print media, particularly the question of whether readers value print advertising as a good or a bad. We summarize the research on antitrust-related issues in newspaper markets, including mergers, Joint Operating Agreements and vertical price restrictions. We then review recent research on how print media have been affected by the growth of the Internet. Finally, we offer suggestions for future research and provide thoughts on the future of this industry.

Keywords: magazines, newspapers, two-sided markets, history of newspapers, pricing behavior, advertising, Joint Operating Agreements, mergers, vertical price restrictions, online competition

JEL Classification: D4, D21, D22, D24, K21, L82, L86, M37