Due to financial woes, the New York Sun has reported that it may close its doors at the end of September, unless the papers publishers can raise sufficient moneys.

Readers of the New York Sun were given a heads up of the newspapers potential closing in an article released yesterday and written by Seth Lipsky, the editor. Others in the industry are looking to the papers newness as another reason for its closure – the New York Sun was launched in April of 2002. Tenure in the newspaper industry could be a valid attributor the Sun’s announcement, as the cost of the necessary supplies for printing and distributing a newspaper (gas, and paper itself) have increased substantially since 2003 and newer publications lacking entrenched supplier relationships have suffered more from rate hikes, versus those with multi-decade old supplier footholds. It is important to note that the cost attributed to producing a newspaper is another reason new players on the scene have chosen a Web only play – perhaps this could be a viable option for the Sun.

According to Seth Lipsky, the New York Sun is “one of the few newspapers in America to see substantial increases in print advertising revenues not only last year and the year before but also so far this year”. Lipsky went on in his piece to explain, “the expense of producing and distributing the paper exceeds our revenues.”

written by Beverly Crandon

I read an article this morning about the woes of newspaper revenues – pretty much the same old thing you see from anyone covering this media space in a one-dimensional fashion. The twist to this article though was that it stated that revenue declines in July of this year, were felt in both the print and online mediums at newspapers. I will side with the article and say that up until now, online verticals at any publishing house usually saw monthly increases and July represents the greatest online revenue slowdown we have seen to date.

• NYTCO – total revenue down 16.2% in July, online revenue up only 0.9%
• Media General – total revenue down 13.8% in July, online revenue up by only 5.3%
• Gannett – total revenue down 16.7%, online revenue up by only 3%

The article then went on to use more written prose to beat the issue of the dismal state of newspapers and their publishers. The reason for the perils in revenue and the slowdown in online is very clear however, and to understand it, you have to understand the traditional publisher mindset. The mindset of gouging print rates, ownership of content, and so on. It seemed that for a while newspaper Web sites were answering the need of failing print revenues, but as this article stated, this is no longer a publishers reality. Even given these dismal reports, new-age publishing pundits, me included, strongly feel that the negative revenue trends can be reversed, if only a few key changes are made at newspaper groups.

What publishers must do:

Get comfortable selling online as a standalone – bundling media, especially print media for a publisher, aids in covering inventory and gaining revenues. However, a forced bundle is not always what your Web savvy advertiser is looking for. With the understanding of new forms of advertising that pure-play online giants can offer, and effectively might I add, advertisers are looking for guided free will with spending their money, not a forced bundled purchase.

Think of your Web site as a standalone product – many publishers view their newspaper sites as an extension of their print product. In some ways this may be true: ads laced with a call to action that directs a consumer online, for example. However, when looking at keeping current and active in the minds of advertisers and the general consumer population, looking at the new and innovative ways your Web site can enable you to interact is key.

Be creative online – the world of online is far different from the static print regiment publishers are accustom to. An online marketplace allows you flexibility, agility, new media inclusion, dynamic platforms, speed to market and all for a low investment if compared to print. Guaranteed, if a publisher used the capabilities an online platform offers, they would find themselves remaining current and in the advertising game a lot longer.

Listen to your readers and targeted consumers – just because we’ve been publishing the product for over 50 years, doesn’t mean that we know best. The most effective way to produce a successful marketplace is to make it one that includes your readers and better yet includes the behaviors of the online consumer.

Flexible pricing - consider moving to pay for performance pricing for your advertisers online. The benefits of this is twofold – advertisers feel that you have partnered with them to ensure their dollars are working in conjunction with the leads and exposure you provide and it keeps your marketing and digital teams focused on the goal of building a thriving marketplace. They should never feel comfortable or content. Reinventing ourselves in this ever-changing e-enabled world is an imperative.

These are just a few of the things that publishers need to consider and or implement to stay current. The risk of not making a change to mind-set is obvious, continued revenue and marketplace declines. As we have said many times on this blog, a newspaper brings with it a lot of advertiser benefits, trust and brand recognition just to mention a few and all that we are suggesting here is that publishers build on these benefits, and do it quickly.

written by Beverly Crandon

A new Online Publishers Association (OPA) report, covering consumer trust levels in local media shows that not only do consumers trust local media sites, but they are more likely to take action after viewing advertisements on these mediums. Newspaper Web sites rank first, with 46% of consumers taking action - making a purchase, going to a store, conducting research, as opposed to only 37% of consumers acting after viewing a local ad on a national portal.

Additional findings in the OPA report:

• Local magazine, newspaper and TV sites attract significant percentages (48%, 40% and 39%, respectively) of consumers who had spent more than $500 online in the previous 12 months.
• 37% of portal visitors and 34% of the overall online population spend this amount in a year.

To get a PDF of the report, click here - OPA Local Online .

written by Beverly Crandon

For those of you looking for that niche that applies to your generalist newspaper or magazine verticals, a recent report from Scarborough Research may have all the answers.

According to Scarborough Research, Internet coupons are of increasing interest to consumers, but newspapers still lead the charge, with 53 percent of households getting their coupons from the Sunday newspaper.

So, if you haven’t stepped up your acquisition of online coupons from your local merchants, you may want to look into doing so.

written by Beverly Crandon

The Journal Register Co. has struck a deal (a Forbearance Agreement) to delay interest payments to several banks until the end of October. The JRC has also d-listed its stock (JRCO.PK) as it stands at a rate of four cents per share.

The Journal Register Co. publishes 22 daily newspaper and 300 non-dailies with a concentration in 6 geographic areas: Greater Philadelphia; Michigan; Connecticut; Greater Cleveland; and the Capital-Saratoga and Mid-Hudson regions of New York.

The Journal Register Co. is currently carrying $640 million of debt, which compared to the $463.2 million it made in 2007 seems daunting. What will make rising out of debt even more difficult for JRC is that through the Forbearance Agreement, it cannot gain funding elsewhere to get them out of this bind.

Being so far under the desired revenue goal it is hard to say if the Journal Register Co. will make it.

written by Beverly Crandon

Newspaper Web sites have been labeled the equalizer to combat falling circulation rates, but a recent report from the Readership Institute made it clear that in the grand scheme of things, newspaper sites and their penetration have not increased in some very important metric areas, since 2005.

Readership.org, supported by personnel from North Western Education, completed a survey of 3,072 individuals across 100 DMA’s (Designated Market Areas). The survey respondents were asked questions primarily relating to newspaper Web sites and their frequency of usage. The respondents ranged between heavy print newspaper readers, mild print newspaper readers, all the way through to those who have “never read a newspaper”.

When asked about their newspaper Web site visitation, only 21% of respondents said they had visited their local newspaper site, within the past 30 days, this opposed to 15% in 2003, when the Readership Institute first started to conduct this survey annually. The bad news for newspapers however, is that although the numbers of people gravitating to their Web sites have increased, the user engagement levels have not. They have remained the same since 2005. This metric is somewhat disappointing, given the changes to user expectations and general online functionality, even within the past two years much less three. It becomes apparent that for many local newspapers, knowing that they at least have a Web compliment is enough. The success of many pure play sites that dabble in the same type of advertising that the dailies do, should be proof enough that the readership profile, when online, has changed and will continue to change. It is not enough to remain content with just ensuring your print content appears online.

As we’ve stated before on this blog, publishers need to look at their Web property as an extension to their brand. An opportunity to attract a new audience and with that, new advertising dollars.

A full copy of the Readership Institute report could be downloaded here.

written by Beverly Crandon

Traditional print media must really be at an impasse when you see two rival dailies join forces, to aid in leveraging costs. This very act of cooperation is exactly what we’re seeing in the case of two state of New York dailies.

The New York Post, Wall Street Journal and the New York Daily News are in negotiations to see if the three publications can combine distribution, printing and back office duties. Both the Post/Journal owner (Rupert Murdoch) and the Daily News owner (Mort Zuckerman) were both said to have had a bid in for the Tribune Co.’s Newsday and had hoped that winning the bid would allow them to optimize and streamline work functions then.

“The request for proposal is an opportunity we are jointly exploring to lower costs, improve efficiency and strengthen our respective newspapers,” said Howard Rubenstein, who handles public relations for News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

Publishers, since I can remember, have always been faulted for being territorial and missing the big picture opportunity. If the cooperative deal between Murdoch and Zuckerman goes through, I think it has the ability to change the way in which the print media industry interacts with each other. This finally shows the importance of looking at the big picture of “staying in business” because no longer is the competition in your market, the rival daily down the road, when more and more of your customers are seeking the same information you offer in print, online.

written by Beverly Crandon

The AARP and the Centre for the Digital Future just released findings from their Digital Future Project report. In summary, the results indicate that 76% of Americans over the age of 50 say the Internet is now the most important source of information for them. The same group has also increased their participation factor in online communities and online gaming environments. Amongst other key findings, the report indicated that of the 50+ online community, 42% of them read the news online on a daily basis and 58% of them log on to their online Internet communities, daily.

All of these statistics are key to publishers because for the longest time, the myth existed that a publishers ‘over 50′ audience contained their interaction to off line media only. The Digital Future Project findings, however, disputes that conception.

written by Beverly Crandon

The World Association of Newspapers has sited Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail’s as having one of the top 5 Web site designs in the world!

WAN asked a team of five highly acclaimed designers, handpicked from different geographies, to review specific global newspapers and their Web sites. More detail on the review and the report it was published in can be found here.

In total, the prestigious top five were:

1. elpais.com (Spain)
2. guardian.co.uk (United Kingdom)
3. globeandmail.com (Canada)
4. 24sata.hr (Croatia)
5. Times Online (United Kingdom)

written by Beverly Crandon

Cox Enterprises Inc., with the aid of Quattro Wireless, has just launched 19 mobile newspaper sites that enable readers to get breaking news, sports, entertainment and stats, directly on their mobile devices. A few of the Cox Web properties that have launched the mobile product are the Statesman.com in Austin, PalmBeachPost.com and DaytonDailyNews.com. Cox is not the first publisher to collaborate with Quattro Wireless. Already, Quattro supports the Advertising Age partners with a custom wireless solution.

Lars Albright, vice president of business development at Quattro Wireless, said relationships with publishers like Cox work well, as news is a natural fit for the company’s mobile audience.

“We are thrilled to add the Cox Newspapers sites to the growing list of publishers in our news channel,” Albright said. “Advertiser response to the Quattro news channel has been very positive with particular interest in the local targeting opportunities sites like the Cox family of newspapers offers.”

The launch of the mobile newspaper concept for Cox will not only give them a chance to widen their readership through new forms of communication, but it will also give the newspapers a new revenue stream. Now all Cox needs to worry about is who will sell it. Already print media companies struggle with legacy reps who don’t understand how to sell the Web. Will mobile ad sales be any different?

written by Beverly Crandon \\ tags: Cox Communications, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Newspapers, Quattro Wireless