06-Nov-18, South China Morning Post
The South China Morning Post, founded in 1903, is now more widely read digitally than it is in print and its largest audience is Americans, rather than Hong Kong residents. The newspaper acquired by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2016 is focused on providing the world a window into ever-growing China.
%20SCMP.jpg "Digital international the way forward at South China Morning Post (c) SCMP")
Image: SCMP
The growing importance of building a digital readership mirrors an ongoing trend in the newspaper industry globally where print circulations decline and the rise of less expensive online advertisements have cut into media company profits.
Gary Liu, CEO, says the paper is not currently profitable. Its ownership and management have decided to go into the red and invest over a period of time "to secure long-term sustainability and profitability". The only other option was to continue to cut costs.