152 newspapers shut down in 2011

But none of those closings occurred at a major daily, according to the Vocus State of the Media report. Take a sneak peak at more media trends from the report.

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If 2010 was a year of experimentation, then 2011 was a year for the cultivation of previous new media endeavors.

In the last 12 months, we’ve seen the adoption of mobile applications steadily increase, social media emerging as standard practice, and the paywall trend gaining ground among newspapers. Here is a peek at some of 2011’s hottest highlights from the upcoming 2012 Vocus State of the Media Report, which comes out Jan. 19.

Newspapers

On par with 2010’s 151 newspaper closings, 152 papers ceased operations in 2011. Of the papers that closed, not one major daily went under—the first year since 2009 that a top-tier paper didn’t shut down.

Although online news sources still dominated launches, heavyweight Patch.com’s growth slowed and several pairs of sites are expected to merge. Meanwhile, other hyper-local online publishers, including Main Street Connect and Elauwit Media, threw their hats into the hyper-local ring.

Paywalls grew in popularity and were adopted by big-name publications such as The New York Times, Dallas Morning News, and Baltimore Sun. Despite growth in print launches, layoffs at large and mid-size newsrooms numbered into the hundreds.

Look for newspapers to continue to merge print and digital operations in 2012.

Magazines

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