More national newspapers are narrowing their focus to attract advertisers with local editions, AdAge points out. In addition to San Francisco editions of the Wall Street Journal debuting today and from the New York Times a few weeks ago, the Journal is boosting coverage of metro New York and the Times is planning a Chicago edition.
The Huffington Post, meanwhile, has already introduced sections aggregating local news in Chicago, Denver and New York.
“Any time a national brand can provide any local information or serve their readers locally, they’ll only grow that relationship,” Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer at The Journal, told AdAge.
“With readers, everyone hopes, comes advertising,” the magazine says. “And results so far look promising. The Journal’s San Francisco edition is sold out through the end of the year.”
It’s working because of “circulation weakness at the local newspapers,” and because it can be done cheaply: the Journal is getting the job done with employees already working for its parent company’s Dow Jones Newswires and MarketWatch, and the Times is using “outside partners.”
Tags: circulation