In an IBISWorld market research report author Toon Van Beeck has identified the
10 Fasted Dying Industries in the United States. While every industry has a lifecycle – growth, maturity and decline – the fastest dying “standouts” include:
Photofinishing, #4 on the list,
Newspaper Publishing ,#7 and
Video Postproduction, #10. IBIS has a database of 700 industries and studied 200 that were in decline to determine which were in the worst shape.
Newspaper Publishing
In newspaper publishing revenue in 2010 was $40.726 billion, but had declined
35.9 percent from 2000 to 2010 and is projected to decline another
18.8 percent by 2016. Between 2010 and 2016 it is projected that
1,078 establishments will close.
American newspapers took a huge hit in 2009 with
23 of the top 25 posting circulation declines. All but the Wall Street Journal posted declines. While the Denver Post also posted a gain, their gain resulted from the company adding all the Rocky Mountain News subscribers when that paper was closed.
Advertising dollars have shifted dramatically away from newspaper publishers and toward the web, which has greatly reduced revenue streams. It is now possible to deliver information in ways that make the old model almost impossible to maintain. The problem with most publishers is that they confuse the delivery mechanism (the physical publishing) with why they actually exist.
Ironically, most of us consume more news and content than ever before; we just get it in different ways and places from different people. While part of the industry may have benefited from the move from paper to electronic delivery the overall paper based business model is struggling to survive and no one has come up with a viable alternative business model .
Photofinishing
Photo finishing was a $1.603 billion market in 2010. It declined
69.1 percent between 2000 and 2010 and is projected to decline another
39.1 percent by 2016 with
2359 establishment projected to close between 2010 and 2016. Over the last ten years almost 60 percent of Photofinishers have closed spelling tough times for previous industry leaders Kodak and Fuji Film.
Video Postproduction
Video Postproduction was a $4.276 billion business in 2010 down
24.9 percent from where it was in 2000 and it is expected to decline another
10.7 percent by 2016. In 2010 there were 1,789 establishment and
676 of those are expected to close by 2016. Technological advances, particularly involving the widespread adoption of digital media, have adversely affected the industry’s range of services, from editing and animation to archiving and format transfer. While the use of this technology is becoming widespread, it is undercutting the industry’s services since production companies can now do much of the work in-house.
Information Sector
The information sector is characterized by rapid technological change. Most of the 29 industry reports covered by IBISWorld within the Information sector are in decline, largely because of rapid technological change.
Of course there are exceptions to this trend, including software publishing, VoIP, internet service providers and search engines (which are some of the innovators behind this change). Still, other than those technologically advanced industries, most have very difficult operating conditions. The Wired Telecommunication Carriers, Newspaper Publishing and Video Postproduction Services industries are suffering the most.
Of the 10 chosen industries that are dying, Wired Telecommunication Carriers is by far the largest, at $154.0 billion in turnover. While this number may sound sizeable, it’s considerably smaller than the $341.8 billion at the end of 2000. Since then, this industry has declined in every year, and it is now close to 55 percent smaller than it was at its peak; with an additional decline of 37.1 percent expected in the next six years. While major players like AT&T and Verizon continue to dominate the industry, they are generating lower returns each year as consumers switch to VoIP and wireless products.
While none of these lines of business are expected to totally disappear, at the moment the future for people engaged in these industries is not bright.