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- Help Wanted: Newspaper Classified Ad Sales Continue to Slide [view article]
- APT Launches: Now Let's Track the Yahoo Bump [view article]
- The New York Times' Challenge with Non-Local Newspaper Ads [view article]
- Can Newspapers Learn Anything from Casinos? [view article]
- Newspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Momentum; Online Struggling Too [view article]
- Board and Executive Compensation in S&P 500 [view article]
- Too Late for Newspapers to Turn the Tide? [view article]
- How Newsrooms Throw Away Value by Not Linking to Web Sources [view article]
- 9 Questions on Newspapers' 2Q Reports [view article]
- Bad Week (and Decade) for Newspapers [view article]
- Beyond 2Q Revenue Declines: AdMan's 9 Imperatives for New Growth [view article]
- 5 Key Quotes from the New York Times Co. on the Newspaper Industry [view article]
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- Slate's New SAGA: The Big Money
- Can Newspapers Learn Anything from Casinos?
- Newspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Momentum; Online Struggling Too
- Magazine Industry Continues to Nosedive
- How Newsrooms Throw Away Value by Not Linking to Web Sources
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Help Wanted: Newspaper Classified Ad Sales Continue to Slide [view article]
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Help Wanted: Newspaper Classified Ad Sales Continue to Slide [view article]
News papers should buy the classified ads sites like www.adsglobe.com to continue to dominate this space. Replyfredrickson
Can Newspapers Learn Anything from Casinos? [view article]
You are right, there are a lot of poorly run newspaper companies out there. Most companies have slashed their marketing departments, spend nothing promoting their products, including their online sites. Most newspaper companies could hire 4-5 times the number of new media reps they currently have, and it shouldn't be enough if they are maximizing their websites and spinning off other sites for travel, kids news, parenting news, real estae and automotive news, etc etc etc.They still feel thet driving all their users through their main site maximiizes the revenue which is dead wrong. Too bad.
Jay
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On Sep 12 02:21 PM FullMetalPho tographer wrote:
> I worked in the newspaper industry for about 15 years as photojournalist
> and webmaster. I have to laugh when I hear people blame the web for
> newspaper's problems. The facts do not support that conclusion. Newspapers
> are flourishing in other countries and circulation has been declining
> way before the web.
> I have to agree with the Vegas analogy. The biggest issue for papers
> is not how to compete with the web but how to embrace the new media.
> There needs to be a serious rethinking advertisement revenue and
> circulation. Newspapers are following the same economic model for
> 50 years. There has been no change in the way do or think about doing
> business. I think will look back at this time as a Mass Extinction
> period in newspaper history because they failed to adapt. If you
> want an example of what not to do is look at Lee Enterprises (LEE).
> They are the poster child of poorly run Newspapers. Reply
tographer
Can Newspapers Learn Anything from Casinos? [view article]
I worked in the newspaper industry for about 15 years as photojournalist and webmaster. I have to laugh when I hear people blame the web for newspaper's problems. The facts do not support that conclusion. Newspapers are flourishing in other countries and circulation has been declining way before the web.I have to agree with the Vegas analogy. The biggest issue for papers is not how to compete with the web but how to embrace the new media. There needs to be a serious rethinking advertisement revenue and circulation. Newspapers are following the same economic model for 50 years. There has been no change in the way do or think about doing business. I think will look back at this time as a Mass Extinction period in newspaper history because they failed to adapt. If you want an example of what not to do is look at Lee Enterprises (LEE). They are the poster child of poorly run Newspapers. Reply
Can Newspapers Learn Anything from Casinos? [view article]
i dont see the comparison. he could have compared the newspaper industry to the buggywhip industry.no matterwhat they do i dont think the upcoming generation will need newspapers no matter what the paper mangement does. ReplyCan Newspapers Learn Anything from Casinos? [view article]
jay, What Terri Lanni is saying is that irrelevance is destructive. Look at Hollywood. Hollywood was the Las Vegas 60-70 years ago and without change it died. He's saying the Newspaper business has to follow Las Vegas with change to attract new people and keep their clients coming back.Daniel Kowkabany Reply
fredrickson
Can Newspapers Learn Anything from Casinos? [view article]
I don't get it? What does the casino industry have to do with the newspaper business? has some new technology kept people from going into casinos? Has some new competitor jumped up and offered the same thrill with more ease and convenience? last I saw, the casino industry looked pretty healthy. There has been tremendous growth in the gambling business, can't say the same for the newspaper biz.Jay
chicagocheap.com Reply
Newspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Momentum; Online Struggling Too [view article]
getting rid of the neighborhood delivery teen did not help. ReplyNewspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Momentum; Online Struggling Too [view article]
As a 20 plus year veteran of the Newspaper industry...as an Advertising Management professional (Daily and Weekly, Shoppers, Family Owned, and Corporate Owned) I have an insiders opinion.Newspaper revenues have been self inflicted wounds. Family owned newspapers in smaller markets are in much better shape than newspapers in markets owned by corporations or large groups. Many of the problems can be repaired, or at least the declines arrested.
The main issues can be laid at the feet of top executives and publishers. Therefore, the problems can be corrected by examining them, and probably removing most of them.
The problem....lack of long term vision, and the wrong skill set to correct them. Corporate newspapers have valued only the immediate months' Operating Profit, and designed compensation programs accordingly. Corporate directors receive bonus payments based on either annual or divisional factors. This system has focused on the very short term performance financially.
Virtually no focus is placed on the fundamentals of the business. Adding to this, high level managers at the local and corporate level have changed in professional fields of expertise. Over the past 10 years, most local publishers and higher corporate types are now financial managers- accountants- not Editors, Advertising, or Circulation types. Think of that for a moment, and you can begin to see a large part of the long term problem.
Newspapers have traditionally attracted people interested in reading news that is important to them. Advertising was strong, because local advertisers could rely on both strong readership of their ads, and affordable ad rates that reflected return on investment. Both have been seriously eroded, and may be too late to correct.
Readership has been eroded, because senior management directed focus on short term bonus' for themselves. Examples...the refusal to invest resources and time for local Circulation managers to build home delivery services of newspapers. Instead, a practice of artificially "puffing" circulation is the focus. Almost all newspapers now have NIE departments (Newspaper In Education). Sounds good on the surface, however, the main reason the departments exist, and the main responsibility, is getting large bulk sales to schools paid for by businesses. That is then called "paid circulation" and reported as such to the ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation). Another practice is to "wrap" a newspaper with a "jacket" of newsprint with ads on it. That "jacket" is paid for by advertisers, then dropped at hotels etc, perhaps at major league sporting events or concerts. Then, that entire pressrun is counted as "paid" as well. Using a newspaper to help reading programs is not really the circulation Advertisers are counting on. Nor is a free newspaper at the hotel desk. Home delivery is the most important, with paid single copy sales next.
The problem? Real newspaper circulation is far less than stated. The consequence is that ads don't reach real readers, and ads don't work as well as in the past. This "puffed" circulation is the basis that ad rates are sold to advertisers.
Why does this matter? Many publishers receive bonus based on circulation increases, not the type of circulation. Ad rates have also faced similar issues. Circulation goes down, ad rates go up, and results for those advertisers go down as well. In the online area, Publishers refuse to re think the model. Classified ad rates were raised artificially and forced online, with no infra structure to give that online ad a chance to work. It was done simply to add revenue. Results for the customer were not considered. That inflated price gave rise to Craigslist, Monster, and many others that have eroded Classified ads.
Display advertising is no different. Less real circulation, yet higher rate. What other industry does that? Give you less, but charge you more. Very poor execution of the online revenue model. Many publishers try to count online pageviews as extra circuation. Marginally true, but the print advertiser gets NO benefit of it, and the online only advertiser gets no benefit from the print. So, not completely accurate to "spin" online pageviews as circulation to advertisers
In the newsroom, the head counts have been drastically slashed. The only reason anyone even buys a newspaper is to read the news. The problem is not so much the cuts, as WHO has been cut, or quit. The more tenured and experienced the newsperson, the more likely they are to be be gone from today's newsroom.
At some point, there will be an executive in one of the companies that will state the obvious, and make some bold decisions. If the CEO does not fire them immediately, the changes needed will be done, and the newspaper industry will recover in some form. Until then, the death spiral will continue. The market will crush many of them, and only a few will survive. Local family owned newspapers have a better chance of survival, because they tend to make better long term decisions.
Think of it this way...an NFL team cuts it's best quarterback, running backs, line, and defense, but KEEPS the rookies and third stringers! Then expects the team to win the Superbowl, and expects you to pay the full ticket price to watch em! Then, the executive is surprised by an empty stadium!!
Reply
Newspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Momentum; Online Struggling Too [view article]
it can be true even if we dont like it. newspapers can go the way of the buggywhip.most kids that i know are not interested in the news,nevermind the newspaper.in my day,last century,most kids at least read the paper for the cartoons.there is no future for print with most of todays kids & they are the future.the world will survive. ReplyNewspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Momentum; Online Struggling Too [view article]
this and also telephone book ad decline is just as steep and t.v. news ads are way down. tech is changing everything and it's not an advertising recession when it comes to some of this. newspapers will not recover substantially nor will the phone books or t.v. news.the only spot left is the web and the recession IS the impact there. Reply
Newspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Momentum; Online Struggling Too [view article]
I maintain models of (NAA) ad expenditures trends and I must say I was totally surprised by the Q2 results for online. The $777 million is in the zero percentile in a one period ahead series. I was forecasting the 2008 aggregate expenditure to be $39.4 bilion and 2009 to be $34.6 billion. It's going to be worse than that. Additionally, for some time now, newspaper ad exps have been disconnected from macroeconomic indicators. These recent trends are not cyclical. ReplyNewspaper Ad Revenues Gaining Downhill Momentum; Online Struggling Too [view article]
Amazing decline. Do you have a sense of the breakdown in online between classified and display? I see a ton of display inventory flowing through main pages on newspaper sites, which continue to be healthy, so is classified the culprit, or are the ad rates driving down on display? ReplyBoard and Executive Compensation in S&P 500 [view article]
when I read the insiders activities on the stocks that i own i always see large blocks of stocks being sold or option being exercised. As a stock holder i paid for my shares these insiders didn't there shares came from the stockholders. The only company i have that has honest management is brk.a/b ReplyToo Late for Newspapers to Turn the Tide? [view article]
For my part I entertain a high idea of the utility of periodical publications; insomuch as I could heartily desire, copies of ... magazines, as well as common Gazettes, might be spread through every city, town, and village in the United States. I consider such vehicles of knowledge more happily calculated than any other to preserve the liberty, stimulate the industry, and ameliorate the morals of a free and enlightened people.- George Washington, 1788.=================
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