internal analysis and SWOT analysis of the case$-$Case $19$

Digital Transformation at The Washington Post: Innovating for the Next Generation

After joining The Washington Post $($The Post$)$ in $2014$ as publisher and CEO, Fred Ryan worked with owner Jeff Bezos to$$bring about an extraordinary digital transformation at the$$global news organization$\mathrm{.}1$ As a result of Ryan and Bezos$$s$$efforts$,$ The Post was on track to finish $2021$ as a profitable and$$growing company, as it had been for the past six years. The$$turnaround had been nothing short of miraculous, leading$$Fast Company to recognize The Post as one of the $$World$$s$$Most Innovative Companies$...$for bringing Amazonian$$ambition to news.$2$

Yet, despite all its success, The Post continued to face$$several significant business challenges, including new$$competitors$,$ a growing number of channels through which$$readers consumed news, and rapidly changing consumer$$behavior$.$ While The Post was transforming itself, the share$$of Americans using social media to access news had nearly$$doubled to $48\%.$ Underscoring this trend, Gen Z individuals $($those born after $1996)$ were far more likely than$$those in earlier generations to use social media and news$$aggregators instead of direct methods $($e$.$g$.,$ https:$//$www$.$washingtonpost.com$/)$ to access news, hurting both subscriptions and ad revenues, and posing challenges to the$$future profitability of The Post.

On August $4,2021,$ The Post announced the creation$$of Next Generation $($Next Gen$)$a new initiative to accelerate the acquisition of younger and more diverse audiences through new products, practices, and partnerships$\mathrm{.}3$As part of the announcement, Ryan made the following$$statement:

Over the past few years, The Post has boldly experimented$$in developing new ways to reach readers and expand our$$subscription base. We have delivered The Washington Post$$journalism to the broadest national and global audience$$in our history with many younger readers enjoying Post$$content on sites and in formats that didn$$t exist a few$$years ago, and we are eager to build upon this success$$and accelerate our progress.

To execute the Next Gen initiative, a cross$-$company task$$force was formed to develop The Post$$s strategic roadmap$$for emerging audiences, which it would present to Ryan and$$his executive team. The future of the $143-$year$-$old institution$$would depend on its ability to continue its organizational$$transformation and innovate for the next generation.

A Brief History of the American$$Newspaper Industry and

The Washington Post

The first newspapers in the newly formed United States had$$been crucial to inspiring civic unrest across the Thirteen Colonies by spreading radical ideas on personal liberties. Their$$vast influence during the Revolutionary Period was plainly$$understood by the authors of the US Constitution when$$they designed the First Amendment to cement the role of$$newspapers as a bulwark of democracy, capable of holding$$the powerful to account. Historian and Continental Congress$$delegate David Ramsay observed, $$In establishing American$$independence$,$ the pen and the press had merit equal to that$$of the sword.$4$

Despite the legal protections of the First Amendment,$$newspapers of the late $18$th century struggled with a business model based on feeble circulation capacities $($only several hundred readers per paper$),$ content lag times ranging$$from weeks to months, and particularly high operating costs$\mathrm{.}5$On the demand side, low literacy rates, a largely nonexistent$$middle class, and a highly rural agrarian society constrained$$expansion$.$ These business pressures would linger for nearly a$$century before giving way to a period of enormous growth in$$the late $1800$s for the newspaper industry$6($Exhibit $1).$

During this period of growth, Stilson Hutchins, founder$$of the Saint Louis Times, moved to Washington, DC$,$ and$$began publishing at $914$ Pennsylvania Avenue under the title$$of The Washington Post on Thursday, December $6,1877\mathrm{.}7$ The$$first published papers focused chiefly on government affairs$$and were circulated to around $10,000$ readers, mainly residents of Washington, DC$.$

In the late $19$th century, American newspapers, including$$The Post, continued to be constrained by two stubbornly high$$costs$$printing and circulation $($transportation$).$ Several$$advancements during the era improved the viability of papers$$in less populated and more competitive environments: the$$telegraph $($which decreased story lead times$),$ railroad networks $($which enabled wider circulation$),$ and the Linotype$$printer $($which decreased printing costs$).$ Created by German$$immigrant Ottmar Mergenthaler in Baltimore, Maryland, the$$Linotype printer was said to have been described by Thomas$$Edison as the Eighth Wonder of the World$\mathrm{.}8$ When Mergenthaler unveiled his new machine in January $1883,$ Hutchins$$was an eager spectator. Of the first $102$ machines produced

This field$-$based case was prepared by Ryan Nelson, Professor of Commerce, and Kevin Miner, Research Assistant. It was written as a basis for