When the Newspaper Disappears, the Audience Doesn't
By Teresa Cuevas Berríos, Marketing Advisor at DuartePino
The End of an Era
There is something undeniably sad about knowing that El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora will no longer exist in print.
For many of us in Puerto Rico, newspapers have always been there, on kitchen tables, in waiting rooms, at coffee shops and pharmacies. They have documented our elections, hurricanes, celebrations and crises. And for those of us in marketing, they have also represented something else: one of the most familiar forms of mass media on the Island.
So, seeing that chapter come to an end feels significant.
But it also says a lot about how quickly technology is changing the way people consume information. The newspaper may be disappearing, but the audience isn't. It has simply moved. El Nuevo Día and Primera Hora now reach millions of users through their digital platforms, reflecting a much broader shift in consumer behavior.
Media Planning After the Newspaper Disappears
As a Marketing Advisor, this makes me think about how we approach media planning.
For years, “mass media” meant fairly predictable things: television, radio, newspapers and billboards. Today, those lines are increasingly blurred. A newspaper is also a website, a social platform, a newsletter, a video channel and a source of digital advertising inventory.
Even the audiences we once associated primarily with traditional media are changing their habits. That means we cannot continue building media plans based simply on what worked five or ten years ago.
And moving from print to digital doesn't mean simply transferring the same advertising dollars from one media to another. Digital gives us the ability to segment audiences, measure behavior, retarget, optimize campaigns in real time and understand much more clearly what happens after someone sees an ad.
What This Means for Marketers
There is a darker side to that progress, too. Technology creates efficiencies, but it also disrupts jobs, routines and institutions that once seemed permanent. This announcement is a reminder that transformation has a human and cultural cost.
For marketers, perhaps the biggest takeaway is that our responsibility is not to protect a channel because it has always been part of the media plan. It is to understand where attention is moving and make sure the brands we advise move with it.
It is sad to see an era end.
But it is also a very visible reminder that technology isn't waiting for any industry to catch up, and marketing certainly won't be the exception.
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ABOUT DUARTEPINO
DuartePino is a management outsourcing firm that combines deep customer knowledge with practical expertise in marketing, communications, and brand management to drive sustainable growth for clients. Our network of Trusted Advisors brings years of experience, offering fresh perspectives, proven processes, and the martech tools needed for effective execution.
In addition to our core services, we have expanded through our ventures, Téntico a strategy-first brand studio focused on authentic branding for legacy brands and scale-ups. And Haipriori, specializing in custom software solutions and digital innovation. We manage over 15 marketing communications departments, representing over $1B in annual sales, with 70% of clients exporting to international markets.
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