Also from Fitz & Jen (see below), folks at the Pottsboro (Texas) Press and their readers got a lesson last week about why editors are useful, even in the advertising department.
The weekly paper ran an anti-drug public service announcement on page 5 that contained several expletives, including the F-word in all-caps at a can’t-miss position. Fitz & Jen have a copy at the link above.
Publisher Frank Alvarez says it was a mistake and they plan an apology in this week’s paper.
From E&P’s Fitz & Jen blog in its daily roundup of newspaper stock performance on Thursday:
“Over at McClatchy, the company almost beat its 52-week high today if only shares (NYSE: MNI) had gained 39 more cents. The stock rose 8.3 percent closing at $3.65″ — up 28 cents.
The Newspaper Association of America says that, on average, newspaper Web sites attracted more than 74 million monthly unique visitors in the third quarter of 2009, more than one-third (38 percent) of all Internet users. This translates into more than 3.5 billion page views during the quarter, and 2.7 billion minutes spent browsing the sites during more than 596 million total sessions.
The figures come from a custom analysis provided by Nielsen Online.
The NAA also says newspaper companies have been able to command higher newsstand and home-delivery prices for print editions, while subscriber “churn” – the rate of subscribers canceling – has fallen dramatically to 31.8 percent in 2008, compared with 54.5 percent in 2000.
Though it applauds subscription and newsstand sales, Thursday’s NAA report does not explain how to make the online readership pay. Unless we missed it:
“Newspaper publishers continue to aggressively reinvent their business models, leveraging trusted brands to attract a growing and sophisticated audience in the digital space,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. “At the same time, industry executives have adopted smarter circulation strategies that are growing circulation revenues even though paid circulation numbers are lower. This places the focus where it belongs: retaining core readers who deliver maximum value to advertisers while harnessing digital platforms to broaden our medium’s audience and position us strongly for the future.”
Maybe in the future.
Political advertising in 2010 is projected in a Wells Fargo report to increase by 11 percent over 2008, with TV and direct mail getting nearly nine out of every 10 dollars spent, according to Editor & Publisher.
Next year brings us the election of 37 governors, 38 senators, every member of the House of Representatives, and issue advertising (which could approach $1 billion) on hot-button issues such as health care.
“Broadcast TV will reap the lion’s share at $2.2 billion or 67 percent of the total, with $2 billion going to local TV, $150 million to cable and $50 million to network TV,” E&P says. “Direct mail will get $650 million or 20 percent of the ad spend, followed by radio at $250 million or 8 percent, and newspaper at $95 million or 3 percent. Outdoor and the Internet are forecast to reach $55 million and $50 million, respectively.”
At least one newspaper publisher has attributed part of its 3Q ad revenue decline to “the absence of Olympic [that's TV advertising] and political ads that fattened results a year ago.”
The publisher of The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The International Herald-Tribune and 15 other daily newspapers showed a 27 percent drop in ad revenue in its third-quarter earnings report Thursday, the Associated Press says.
“The Times Co.’s ad slide in the third quarter was comparable to what other major newspaper publishers such as Gannett Co. and McClatchy Co. have reported. Those companies have remained profitable because of job cuts and falling newsprint costs.
“… Excluding unusual items, the company said it earned 16 cents per share in the most recent quarter, compared with 5 cents a year ago.”
On Monday, the NYT said it would eliminate 100 more newsroom jobs by year’s end.
Media General, the Richmond, Va.-based publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Tampa Tribune, says it lost money in the last three months because of falling ad revenue and a big one-time charge, the Associated Press reports.
Revenue fell 18 percent year-to-year, and CEO Marshall Morton said the “advertising environment in the third quarter remained challenging.” The publisher also claimed a write-down in the value of its assets reduced profits by $84 million.
Citing Google’s most recent report and analysts who agree, the Associated Press says online advertising is poised for a rebound. Meanwhile, Business Week says “Yahoo’s results and its forecast for current-quarter sales beat analysts’ expectations and gave further evidence that this year’s swoon in Internet advertising may be ending.”
“The signs of an online revival are emerging even while advertising in print and broadcasts remain in a slump that has triggered mass layoffs, pay cuts and other upheaval,” the AP report says. It goes on to cite newspaper publishers McClatchy and Gannett, both of which showed huge falloffs in print ad revenues in their third-quarter reports but upticks in their online revenue.
“The harsh reality is that much of the advertising in long-established media, particularly in the classified sections of newspapers, will never rebound to pre-recession levels, said Lauren Rich Fine, a longtime media analyst who is now a professor at Kent State University.”
“… These trends will give Internet advertising 19 percent, or nearly $87 billion, of the worldwide ad market in 2013, up from just 4 percent, or about $18 billion, in 2004, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wilkofsky Gruen Associates.”
That would make the Internet the third-largest marketing medium behind television and, believe it or not, newspapers.
The redesign at the Washington Post introduces larger type and more stories told by graphics, the Associated Press says.
The Post is doing this because, “We know you’re busy, so we’re layering in more information in headlines and labeling sections for faster navigation,” Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli wrote in a special section about the changes Monday. “And we’re using more graphics and other visual elements to tell big, complex stories, a recognition that the digital world has changed expectations and enabled us to do more.”
So, the larger typeface is not because its readers are old and can’t see very well, and the increased use of graphics, in place of news articles, is not because people don’t want to read.
The newspaper is also adding star ratings to movie reviews, new “Local Living” and “Health & Science” sections and an additional page of opinion on Fridays, the AP says.
The Charlotte Observer, the largest McClatchy newspaper in the Carolinas, announced buyout offers today to “many of its employees, including most of the newsroom.”
“The economy has been extremely sluggish,” Ann Caulkins, the Observer’s publisher, said in a meeting with the newsroom, according to an Observer report. “We haven’t seen any sort of bottom.”
Caulkins said there are no plans for involuntary layoffs this year.
The News & Observer in Raleigh announced buyouts a week ago and on Thursday the parent company announced third-quarter financial results that show ad revenue continuing to disappear.
Elsewhere, The New York Times said Monday it plans to eliminate 100 newsroom jobs — about 8 percent of the total — by year’s end, offering buyouts to union and non-union employees, and resorting to layoffs if it cannot get enough people to leave voluntarily.
“We’re all in sales” is what advertising managers at The News & Observer used to tell those of us in the Advertising Department who, actually, weren’t in sales. But, the paper has since drafted employees companywide to sell subscriptions to The N&O, and at least one reporter has responded by cutting his price and advertising in the newspaper, as well as on Craigslist and Facebook.
Matt Ehlers is kicking back half of his commission to offer a one-year subscription to the daily and Sunday newspaper for $75 — $25 less than the price specified in the memo announcing the contest. Employees get $50 for every new subscription they sell (renewals aren’t part of the contest).
Ehlers’ Sunday newspaper ad of about a dozen words (which cost him $18.27 to run once) points out the savings of $120 off the regular price for a full subscription. His Craigslist ad explains that he’s a reporter with the paper and includes a sales pitch: “Think about it: more ACC football and basketball news than you can handle, with state government coverage and crime news mixed in with features, comics and culture stories you won’t find anywhere else. The News & Observer broke open the Easley scandal, and we’re not letting up. Don’t you want to know what happens next?”
“I thought a $50 commission on a $100 sale was pretty generous, and figured splitting it with the customer might entice more people to sign up,” Ehlers said in a e-mail. “A $75 subscription comes out to about 20 cents per day. We all work really hard around here, and I think the paper is a tremendous value. I want more people to read us.”
Scott Wotring, sales and marketing coordinator in The N&O’s Circulation Department, also has an ad on Craigslist — but not in his newspaper – that explains that the sale price is part of an employee contest. He presents three-month subscription prices under the headline “Cheap News & Observer Subscriptions! – $20″ and gives the URL for signing up online.
Ehlers said he’s seen flyers advertising subscription sales at a lunch spot actross the street from The N&O’s downtown offices that had the employee’s number on them to ensure they got credit for the sale.
“I’ve gotten some nibbles, but haven’t yet made any sales,” Ehlers said. “This is my first attempt at selling newspapers at any of my reporting jobs (over more than 12 years).”
Wotring said in an e-mail to employees last week that 55 subscriptions had been sold in the first two weeks of the contest, which runs through November 23.