The chances are that you might not have a choice in the near future.
Two sets of stats have come my way over the weekend and they are tellingly related.
On Friday the Audit Bureau of Circulation announced that the circulation of the Sunday Herald through February had dropped to an average of 32,936.
A day later I discovered that the Celtic Underground podcast had been downloaded 26,317 times during the same period.
Without blowing a trumpet for the advert-free Underground bhoys they are now in the top six sports pod-casts according to the iTunes folk and the 96th most popular podcast overall.
The fall in circulation of the Sunday Herald and rise in popularity of the podcast aren’t unrelated.
Despite it’s January makeover and the reassuring claims from the publishers the youngest newspaper in the Herald stable is clearly on borrowed time, after a sales fall of 21% over the last 12 months it’s unlikely to still be around the newsstands next year if that trend continues.
Without exception there is no newspaper that has successfully worked the internet.
The opportunity to provide rolling news and opinion, engage their audience and a reach beyond their physical circulation areas has been hopelessly lost.
Providing upto the minute news to the thousands of Celtic supporters that have never been able to buy a Sunday Herald or Evening Times has been lost in the same way as the Saturday Pink was lost to the radio and phone-in generation.
While thousands still rely on newspapers for their footy fix more and more are turning to the internet realising that today’s newspaper news is often yesterdays story online.
The diversity of opinion and news offered to the online Celt grows on a monthly basis with newcomers emerging regularly.
After over a decade in action Etims remain to the fore as an independent ‘voice’ of Celtic opinion even if half a dozen message boards are providing the news breaking edge.
With frustrations growing at the over the top censorship and agendas of radio phone-ins the podcast is emerging as the newest of new media.
Celtic Underground and The Lost Bhoys both produce very listenable weekly offerings and managed to get together for a Georgios Samaras inspired new year special that might have struggled to pass a breathalyser.
The recent derby matches and the outrage/shame that have followed Celtic’s successes have been well documented by CU and TLB who have had their offerings online within 24 hours of the matches ending.
Following on from the Scottish Government Summit the CU bhoys discussed various issues including whether Peter Lawwell and Martin Bain could be put together for a remake of The Odd Couple.
Things don’t stand still online however with Over and Over providing a live Friday night radio type preview and live audio updates on matchdays.
Having read through this article I’m probably typing to the already converted.
Simple management of twitter and facebook gives every supporter the news and information that they require, by the time the old media publishers crack the internet the chances are that they’ll be a generation or two behind the on-line pacesetters.
Another Scotsman attack on Celtic
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I would like to invite video Celts and others to join in the discussion of a new Celtic Fans Sites Multimedia hub.
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