Examining Survival Strategies Employed by Nigerian Newspapers against Loss of Readership and Revenues

Abstract

The study examined the measures taken by Nigerian newspapers, facing decline in readership and revenues, to survive the harsh business climate and how effective these measures have been in sustaining newspaper businesses. The qualitative study employed in-depth interviews with 11 senior editors of seven selected newspapers to generate its data. The results of the interviews were coded and discussed thematically. The findings in this study generally agreed with the theories of Destructive Innovation and Creative Disruption that when a business organ reaches a cultural lock-in stage, to break even and avoid bankruptcy or total extinction, such a business must undertake some fundamental survival strategies, which conform with the postulations in previous studies as cited in this paper.

Keywords: Survival strategies, Nigerian Newspapers, readership and revenues