NEWSPAPERS
1. Newspapers Circ Continues
Decline; Publishers Tout Online Gains
Industry Loses 1.2
Million Readers in Six Months / By Nat Ives / Published: May 08, 2006 top
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- This morning's semi-annual report on
paid newspaper circulation delivered nothing to change the portrait
of an industry losing customers.
The newspaper industry has received the latest round of bad
news.
For the six months that ended March 31, the average paid weekday
circulation of all 770 U.S. newspapers reporting declined to
45.4 million, down 2.5% from the equivalent prior period, according
to an analysis by the Newspaper Association of America of figures
compiled by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. That's a loss
of nearly 1.2 million paying readers.
Last November's report also showed a topline 2.6% decline in
paying weekday readers, in that case among 786 papers reporting,
meaning 1.2 million paying readers were lost then too, according
to the NAA.
Drop-offs outnumber gains
Among the big urban papers, drop-offs vastly outnumbered gains.
The Baltimore Sun, for example, lost 3% of its paid circulation,
falling to a paid weekday average of 236,317 from 243,747 one
year prior. top
In Philadelphia, The Inquirer dropped nearly 5.5% to 350,457
and the Daily News sank 9.3% to 116,590. Both are being shopped
for buyers by the McClatchy Co., which agreed to buy them as
part of its acquisition of Knight Ridder, but were immediately
returned to the block. Large papers also suffered in Atlanta,
Cleveland, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis and Seattle.
Of the top 25 newspapers by weekday circulation in today's
report, 20 lost paid circulation during the six months that
ended March 31, compared with their figures for the equivalent
period a year earlier.
None of the top 25 that added paying circulation -- USA Today,
The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Star-Ledger of
Newark and The Detroit Free Press -- moved the needle up by
even 1%. But six lost more than 5%, lead by The San Francisco
Chronicle, which gave up 15.6%. top
De-emphasize the results
The Newspaper Association of America moved quickly to de-emphasize
the results. "Both circulation and readership are important,
valid measures of the newspaper audience, but counting only
the number of units sold on a given day obscures the actual
use of newspapers and consumer exposure to advertising,"
said John F. Sturm, president-CEO, NAA.
"Our continuing discussions with the advertising community
and third-party research we have seen tell us that audience
is important to advertisers because it provides a more accurate
measure of newspapers' total reach," he said. "The
research also points out how engaged the newspaper audience
is with the media -- in print and online."
Newspaper publishers -- and journalists, investors and related
businesses -- indeed have some reasons for optimism. Last year's
shareholder revolt at Knight Ridder notwithstanding, newspaper
companies continue to throw off healthy profits; their Web sites,
too, are attracting readers online. top
The newspaper association said today that the online audience
for newspaper reached record levels in the first quarter: Citing
Nielsen/NetRatings data, it said newspaper Web sites averaged
56 million users, an 8% increase in reach of first-quarter 2005.
The top three
Of the top three papers, Gannett's category-leader USA Today
essentially held flat, improving average paid weekday circulation
by 0.09% to total 2.27 million. At No. 2, The Wall Street Journal
from Dow Jones saw average paid weekday circulation slip a full
percentage point to 2.05 million. And The New York Times expanded
0.5% to 1.14 million.
But the fourth, Tribune's Los Angeles Times, gave up 5.4% and
fell to average paid weekday circulation of 851,832. And The
Washington Post, fifth on the list, slipped 3.67% to 724,242.
Although New York's tabloids narrowed the distance between,
The Daily News held on to its top spot, even if it lost 3.7%
of its average weekday paying circulation, falling to 708,477.
Rival New York Post also lost ground, just not as much -- average
paid circulation fell 0.7% to 673,379. top
The New York Times Co. may take pride this morning that its
flagship paper's print edition eked out growth, but another
of its properties, The Boston Globe, fared much worse, falling
8.5% to 397,288.
Today's report did not include New Orleans' Times-Picayune,
which deferred reporting because of the effects of Hurricane
Katrina. But it marked the return The Tribune Co.'s Newsday
in Long Island which has been absent since the report of March
2004 because of censure by the audit bureau. http://adage.com/mediaworks/article.php?article_id=109092
2. Imagining the Day When the WSJ Print Edition Folds
And Other Thoughts About the Endgame
for Newspapers in a Fully Digital Age/ By Scott Donaton top
Published: July 23, 2006
"Dow Jones will reassess its
news delivery" -- New York Times headline, July 14,
2006
"Wall Street Journal folds print edition in media-world
stunner" -- New York Times headline, date to
be determined
Wow, they're going to do it. Or at least they're going to think
about doing it. That the first thing that came into my mind
on a recent Friday morning when The New York Times reported
that the parent company of The Wall Street Journal had
created a committee "to reassess the ways it delivers news
across all its print and online properties."
Vision of Dow Jones
Granted, I was operating on very little sleep, having red-eyed
back from L.A. But as I read the piece, I was hit with the vision
of Dow Jones emerging from this process with the bold and aggressive
decision to make The Journal the first major newspaper to convert
fully to a digital model. top
It's not as heretical or stunning a concept as you might think.
I strongly believe that print has a future; it's hard to imagine
a world without glossy lifestyle monthlies because there's no
better delivery system (yet) for their photos and stories. But
certain forms of media that are currently print-based, particularly
daily newspapers, must explore the possibility that there are
more reader-friendly and cost-efficient ways to produce and
distribute their content.
Traditional media executives
It's still surprisingly difficult to get traditional media executives
to admit this. But their resistance seems based on an emotional
attachment to ink on paper, a deeply held -- if largely indefensible
-- sense that a newspaper's soul is inextricably linked to its
format.
Which is nonsense. Scary as they are, some things must be confronted,
including our overly romanticized notions of what a newspaper
is.
I don't have enough insight into The Journal's economics
to say when (or, with confidence, whether) the day will come
when a print-to-digital conversion is economically feasible.
Could be two years, could be 10. But most newspapers are faced
with roughly the same dilemma: Print dollars are flat or down
but still account for the bulk of revenue and profits. Digital
is growing by double- or triple-digits, but off a relatively
small base, and online advertising isn't valued as highly as
print. Even those who believe a digital takeover is inevitable
don't want to admit it because it puts their existing revenue
streams at risk too soon, before they've built the ark that
will carry them safely to a new business model.
Long-term perspective
From that point of view, it seems batty to suggest that Dow
Jones -- despite its early aggressiveness and success on the
web -- should consider folding a 117-year-old print daily that
has more than 2 million paid subscribers. But from a long-term,
brand-centric perspective, it would be negligent for the committee
not to crunch the numbers to determine when and if digital delivery
will surpass the efficiencies of printing (at 17 U.S. plants)
and distributing a paper product. The web has content as well
as cost advantages, being a better tool for tracking stocks
and breaking news.
The Journal has a head start. It already has the largest
paid-subscription news site on the web with more than 768,000
customers, and CEO Rich Zannino said a few months ago that he
would reorganize the business "around markets rather than
channels of distribution."
Paul Ingrassia will lead the Dow Jones committee as VP-news
strategy and will take a senior editorial role when the project
is complete. His promotion was announced along with a retirement
date (end of 2007) for The Journal's managing editor,
Paul Steiger. The Times said Ingrassia "will play
a significant role in determining the journalistic future of
The Journal." And the rest of the newspaper industry
as well. top
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=110685
XXXXXXXXXXX
3. Print Media Strikes Back
By Stuart Elliott The New York Times / http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/15/business/ADCOL.php
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006
NEW YORK The print media, beset by intensifying competition
for advertising dollars, are seeking to strike back.
Trade organizations for the U.S. newspaper and magazine industry
are planning elaborate and expensive campaigns that tackle a
daunting task: persuading marketers and agencies to think better
of print as an ad medium.
The industry is contending with sluggish growth as it faces
off against the Internet, e-mail marketing and other newer rivals.
top
The magazine campaign is scheduled to start first, on Feb.
27, with a series of ads for the Magazine Publishers of America
from Mullen in Wenham, Massachusetts. The campaign, which was
to be formally announced Wednesday, is the second part of a
three-year, $40 million effort on behalf of the magazine industry.
The focal point of the magazine campaign will be ads for eight
brands and products like Altoids mints, sold by Kraft Foods;
Cover Girl makeup, made by Procter & Gamble; the Infiniti
car line, sold by Nissan Motor; and J.C. Penney department stores.
top
The ads are slyly designed to look as if they had been ripped
from the magazines in which they appear. Text next to the torn-out
ads makes the point that magazines engage readers with "ideas
that live beyond the page."
The newspaper campaign, to be announced Monday, is scheduled
to begin on March 20. It is being created by the Martin Agency
in Richmond, Virginia, for the Newspaper Association of America,
which hopes that its members will donate as much as $50 million
of ad space to run the campaign this year.
The newspaper campaign takes a humorous tack to pitch the virtues
of buying ad space. One ad, for instance, declares: "Every
day we try to print something that people on the right and the
left can actually agree on. We call it 'advertising."'
The campaign asserts that the advertising in newspapers, unlike
that in some other media, like Web sites, is "a destination,
not a distraction."
Both trade organizations have recently run campaigns aimed
at the advertising industry. But the need for the print media
to make their case in a more noticeable, even intrusive, manner
is growing as their share of advertising revenue shrinks.
"I'm surprised they haven't tried to do something like
this sooner," said Lauren Rich Fine, who follows the ad
industry for Merrill Lynch. "There's still value in print
advertising, but advertisers are assessing the return they're
getting from it." top
Previously, sluggish growth for newspaper ad revenue was typically
attributable to a poor economy or even a recession, said a specialist
in the newspaper industry, Miles Groves of MG Strategic Research
in Washington.
But now, "there's more going on here than a cycle,"
he said, as many marketers "look for better ways to tell
their stories, like more investment in direct marketing, one-to-one
marketing, online marketing."
John Kimball, chief marketing officer at the newspaper association,
based in Vienna, Virginia, acknowledged that newspapers were
"somehow, in the minds of many people, a medium that's
in this great trouble."
"When you dig a little deeper, we have a compelling story,"
he said, "but we didn't tell it to anybody." So the
newspaper association returned to Martin, with which it worked
on a campaign in 2003, and met with other agencies and advertisers.
From that came a decision to focus the campaign on the idea
that consumers may "buy subscription radio to avoid commercials,
TiVo commercials on TV and hate pop-up ads on the Internet,"
Kimball said, "but would not want to read a newspaper that
did not contain advertising."
The newspaper industry is "spending a lot of time on the
defensive," said Earl Cox, partner and chief strategy officer
at Martin, part of Interpublic Group. "A lot of people
have written off newspapers as old-school and static, but consumers
don't just read newspapers, they use them, to research and shop
for the things they want to buy."
The ads are slyly designed to look as if they had been ripped
from the magazines in which they appear. Text next to the torn-out
ads makes the point that magazines engage readers with "ideas
that live beyond the page." top
The newspaper campaign, to be announced Monday, is scheduled
to begin on March 20. It is being created by the Martin Agency
in Richmond, Virginia, for the Newspaper Association of America,
which hopes that its members will donate as much as $50 million
of ad space to run the campaign this year.
The newspaper campaign takes a humorous tack to pitch the virtues
of buying ad space. One ad, for instance, declares: "Every
day we try to print something that people on the right and the
left can actually agree on. We call it 'advertising."'
The campaign asserts that the advertising in newspapers, unlike
that in some other media, like Web sites, is "a destination,
not a distraction."
Both trade organizations have recently run campaigns aimed
at the advertising industry. But the need for the print media
to make their case in a more noticeable, even intrusive, manner
is growing as their share of advertising revenue shrinks.
"I'm surprised they haven't tried to do something like
this sooner," said Lauren Rich Fine, who follows the ad
industry for Merrill Lynch. "There's still value in print
advertising, but advertisers are assessing the return they're
getting from it."
Previously, sluggish growth for newspaper ad revenue was typically
attributable to a poor economy or even a recession, said a specialist
in the newspaper industry, Miles Groves of MG Strategic Research
in Washington.
But now, "there's more going on here than a cycle,"
he said, as many marketers "look for better ways to tell
their stories, like more investment in direct marketing, one-to-one
marketing, online marketing."
John Kimball, chief marketing officer at the newspaper association,
based in Vienna, Virginia, acknowledged that newspapers were
"somehow, in the minds of many people, a medium that's
in this great trouble." top
"When you dig a little deeper, we have a compelling story,"
he said, "but we didn't tell it to anybody." So the
newspaper association returned to Martin, with which it worked
on a campaign in 2003, and met with other agencies and advertisers.
From that came a decision to focus the campaign on the idea
that consumers may "buy subscription radio to avoid commercials,
TiVo commercials on TV and hate pop-up ads on the Internet,"
Kimball said, "but would not want to read a newspaper that
did not contain advertising."
The newspaper industry is "spending a lot of time on the
defensive," said Earl Cox, partner and chief strategy officer
at Martin, part of Interpublic Group. "A lot of people
have written off newspapers as old-school and static, but consumers
don't just read newspapers, they use them, to research and shop
for the things they want to buy."
"When you dig a little deeper, we have a compelling story,"
he said, "but we didn't tell it to anybody." So the
newspaper association returned to Martin, with which it worked
on a campaign in 2003, and met with other agencies and advertisers.
From that came a decision to focus the campaign on the idea
that consumers may "buy subscription radio to avoid commercials,
TiVo commercials on TV and hate pop-up ads on the Internet,"
Kimball said, "but would not want to read a newspaper that
did not contain advertising."
The newspaper industry is "spending a lot of time on the
defensive," said Earl Cox, partner and chief strategy officer
at Martin, part of Interpublic Group. "A lot of people
have written off newspapers as old-school and static, but consumers
don't just read newspapers, they use them, to research and shop
for the things they want to buy."
NEW YORK The print
media, beset by intensifying competition for advertising dollars,
are seeking to strike back. top
Trade organizations for the U.S. newspaper and magazine industry
are planning elaborate and expensive campaigns that tackle a
daunting task: persuading marketers and agencies to think better
of print as an ad medium.
The industry is contending with sluggish growth as it faces
off against the Internet, e-mail marketing and other newer rivals.
The magazine campaign is scheduled to start first, on Feb.
27, with a series of ads for the Magazine Publishers of America
from Mullen in Wenham, Massachusetts. The campaign, which was
to be formally announced Wednesday, is the second part of a
three-year, $40 million effort on behalf of the magazine industry.
The focal point of the magazine campaign will be ads for eight
brands and products like Altoids mints, sold by Kraft Foods;
Cover Girl makeup, made by Procter & Gamble; the Infiniti
car line, sold by Nissan Motor; and J.C. Penney department stores.
The ads are slyly designed to look as if they had been ripped
from the magazines in which they appear. Text next to the torn-out
ads makes the point that magazines engage readers with "ideas
that live beyond the page."
The newspaper campaign, to be announced Monday, is scheduled
to begin on March 20. It is being created by the Martin Agency
in Richmond, Virginia, for the Newspaper Association of America,
which hopes that its members will donate as much as $50 million
of ad space to run the campaign this year.
The newspaper campaign takes a humorous tack to pitch the virtues
of buying ad space. One ad, for instance, declares: "Every
day we try to print something that people on the right and the
left can actually agree on. We call it 'advertising."'
top
The campaign asserts that the advertising in newspapers, unlike
that in some other media, like Web sites, is "a destination,
not a distraction."
Both trade organizations have recently run campaigns aimed
at the advertising industry. But the need for the print media
to make their case in a more noticeable, even intrusive, manner
is growing as their share of advertising revenue shrinks.
"I'm surprised they haven't tried to do something like
this sooner," said Lauren Rich Fine, who follows the ad
industry for Merrill Lynch. "There's still value in print
advertising, but advertisers are assessing the return they're
getting from it."
Previously, sluggish growth for newspaper ad revenue was typically
attributable to a poor economy or even a recession, said a specialist
in the newspaper industry, Miles Groves of MG Strategic Research
in Washington.
But now, "there's more going on here than a cycle,"
he said, as many marketers "look for better ways to tell
their stories, like more investment in direct marketing, one-to-one
marketing, online marketing."
John Kimball, chief marketing officer at the newspaper association,
based in Vienna, Virginia, acknowledged that newspapers were
"somehow, in the minds of many people, a medium that's
in this great trouble."
"When you dig a little deeper, we have a compelling story,"
he said, "but we didn't tell it to anybody." So the
newspaper association returned to Martin, with which it worked
on a campaign in 2003, and met with other agencies and advertisers.
From that came a decision to focus the campaign on the idea
that consumers may "buy subscription radio to avoid commercials,
TiVo commercials on TV and hate pop-up ads on the Internet,"
Kimball said, "but would not want to read a newspaper that
did not contain advertising."
The newspaper industry is "spending a lot of time on the
defensive," said Earl Cox, partner and chief strategy officer
at Martin, part of Interpublic Group. "A lot of people
have written off newspapers as old-school and static, but consumers
don't just read newspapers, they use them, to research and shop
for the things they want to buy."
NEW YORK The print
media, beset by intensifying competition for advertising dollars,
are seeking to strike back. top
Trade organizations for the U.S. newspaper and magazine industry
are planning elaborate and expensive campaigns that tackle a
daunting task: persuading marketers and agencies to think better
of print as an ad medium.
The industry is contending with sluggish growth as it faces
off against the Internet, e-mail marketing and other newer rivals.
The magazine campaign is scheduled to start first, on Feb.
27, with a series of ads for the Magazine Publishers of America
from Mullen in Wenham, Massachusetts. The campaign, which was
to be formally announced Wednesday, is the second part of a
three-year, $40 million effort on behalf of the magazine industry.
The focal point of the magazine campaign will be ads for eight
brands and products like Altoids mints, sold by Kraft Foods;
Cover Girl makeup, made by Procter & Gamble; the Infiniti
car line, sold by Nissan Motor; and J.C. Penney department stores.
The ads are slyly designed to look as if they had been ripped
from the magazines in which they appear. Text next to the torn-out
ads makes the point that magazines engage readers with "ideas
that live beyond the page."
The newspaper campaign, to be announced Monday, is scheduled
to begin on March 20. It is being created by the Martin Agency
in Richmond, Virginia, for the Newspaper Association of America,
which hopes that its members will donate as much as $50 million
of ad space to run the campaign this year.
The newspaper campaign takes a humorous tack to pitch the virtues
of buying ad space. One ad, for instance, declares: "Every
day we try to print something that people on the right and the
left can actually agree on. We call it 'advertising."'
The campaign asserts that the advertising in newspapers, unlike
that in some other media, like Web sites, is "a destination,
not a distraction."
Both trade organizations have recently run campaigns aimed
at the advertising industry. But the need for the print media
to make their case in a more noticeable, even intrusive, manner
is growing as their share of advertising revenue shrinks.
"I'm surprised they haven't tried to do something like
this sooner," said Lauren Rich Fine, who follows the ad
industry for Merrill Lynch. "There's still value in print
advertising, but advertisers are assessing the return they're
getting from it." top
Previously, sluggish growth for newspaper ad revenue was typically
attributable to a poor economy or even a recession, said a specialist
in the newspaper industry, Miles Groves of MG Strategic Research
in Washington.
But now, "there's more going on here than a cycle,"
he said, as many marketers "look for better ways to tell
their stories, like more investment in direct marketing, one-to-one
marketing, online marketing."
John Kimball, chief marketing officer at the newspaper association,
based in Vienna, Virginia, acknowledged that newspapers were
"somehow, in the minds of many people, a medium that's
in this great trouble."
"When you dig a little deeper, we have a compelling story,"
he said, "but we didn't tell it to anybody." So the
newspaper association returned to Martin, with which it worked
on a campaign in 2003, and met with other agencies and advertisers.
From that came a decision to focus the campaign on the idea
that consumers may "buy subscription radio to avoid commercials,
TiVo commercials on TV and hate pop-up ads on the Internet,"
Kimball said, "but would not want to read a newspaper that
did not contain advertising." top
The newspaper industry is "spending a lot of time on the
defensive," said Earl Cox, partner and chief strategy officer at
Martin, part of Interpublic Group. "A lot of people have
written off newspapers as old-school and static, but consumers
don't just read newspapers, they use them, to research and shop
for the things they want to buy."
NEW YORK The print media, beset by intensifying competition
for advertising dollars, are seeking to strike back.
Trade organizations
for the U.S. newspaper and magazine industry are planning elaborate
and expensive campaigns that tackle a daunting task: persuading
marketers and agencies to think better of print as an ad medium.
The industry is contending with sluggish growth as it faces
off against the Internet, e-mail marketing and other newer rivals.
The magazine campaign is scheduled to start first, on Feb.
27, with a series of ads for the Magazine Publishers of America
from Mullen in Wenham, Massachusetts. The campaign, which was
to be formally announced Wednesday, is the second part of a
three-year, $40 million effort on behalf of the magazine industry.
The focal point of the magazine campaign will be ads for eight
brands and products like Altoids mints, sold by Kraft Foods;
Cover Girl makeup, made by Procter & Gamble; the Infiniti
car line, sold by Nissan Motor; and J.C. Penney department stores.
top
The ads are slyly designed to look as if they had been ripped
from the magazines in which they appear. Text next to the torn-out
ads makes the point that magazines engage readers with "ideas
that live beyond the page."
The newspaper campaign, to be announced Monday, is scheduled
to begin on March 20. It is being created by the Martin Agency
in Richmond, Virginia, for the Newspaper Association of America,
which hopes that its members will donate as much as $50 million
of ad space to run the campaign this year.
The newspaper campaign takes a humorous tack to pitch the virtues
of buying ad space. One ad, for instance, declares: "Every
day we try to print something that people on the right and the
left can actually agree on. We call it 'advertising."'
The campaign asserts that the advertising in newspapers, unlike
that in some other media, like Web sites, is "a destination,
not a distraction."
Both trade organizations have recently run campaigns aimed
at the advertising industry. But the need for the print media
to make their case in a more noticeable, even intrusive, manner
is growing as their share of advertising revenue shrinks.
"I'm surprised they haven't tried to do something like
this sooner," said Lauren Rich Fine, who follows the ad
industry for Merrill Lynch. "There's still value in print
advertising, but advertisers are assessing the return they're
getting from it."
Previously, sluggish growth for newspaper ad revenue was typically
attributable to a poor economy or even a recession, said a specialist
in the newspaper industry, Miles Groves of MG Strategic Research
in Washington. top
But now, "there's more going on here than a cycle,"
he said, as many marketers "look for better ways to tell
their stories, like more investment in direct marketing, one-to-one
marketing, online marketing."
John Kimball, chief marketing officer at the newspaper association,
based in Vienna, Virginia, acknowledged that newspapers were
"somehow, in the minds of many people, a medium that's
in this great trouble."
"When you dig a little deeper, we have a compelling story,"
he said, "but we didn't tell it to anybody." So the
newspaper association returned to Martin, with which it worked
on a campaign in 2003, and met with other agencies and advertisers.top
From that came a decision to focus the campaign on the idea
that consumers may "buy subscription radio to avoid commercials,
TiVo commercials on TV and hate pop-up ads on the Internet,"
Kimball said, "but would not want to read a newspaper that
did not contain advertising."
The newspaper industry is "spending a lot of time on the
defensive," said Earl Cox, partner and chief strategy officer
at Martin, part of Interpublic Group. "A lot of people
have written off newspapers as old-school and static, but consumers
don't just read newspapers, they use them, to research and shop
for the things they want to buy."
XXXX
4. Newspapers' Next Best Opportunity
Is Local
Mommy Blogs, Commuter Dailies
and Free Entertainment Guides
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- After a year of development, the American
Press Institute has released a 93-page report intended to help
reshape and reinvigorate the newspaper industry. Then again,
if changes keep coming as quickly as they have been, newspapers
may be history before anyone finishes reading the report. Just
today, Merrill Lynch analysts lowered their projections for
newspaper ad revenue this year and next, cutting the 2006 forecast
to "flat" from a 1.2% gain and slashing the 2007 estimate
to a 1.5% decline from a 1.1% rise. top
Xxxxxx
5. US Online Adspend Will
Overtake Newspapers by 2008 (World
Advertising)
top
Carat International's latest Global Market Update predicts
that online adspend in the USA will overtake the newspaper sector
by next year.
Comments Robert Lerwill, ceo of Carat parent Aegis Group:
"Digital is driving growth in almost every single market,
transforming the marketing landscape in the process. Investment
in digital media has now definitively moved from 'experimental'
to 'essential'."
The rise and rise of the once derided advertising medium continues
apace. In the UK, it overtook outdoor advertising in 2005 and
will outpace magazines this year. In ultra-tech-savvy nations
such as Sweden and South Korea, online is set to become the
third largest ad medium after TV and newspapers this year.
Among traditional media, Carat reports that TV still rules the
roost, especially in the USA where TV spend is heading for 4.3%
growth this year, boosted by cable markets, Hispanic channels
and the dollar rush injected by this fall's Congressional elections.
Slower adspend growth in Japan has tempered Carat's previous
upbeat forecast for Asia-Pacific, although the agency predicts
that Nippon's overall economy remains on course for a good 2006.
The rest of the region continues to perform well and is expected
to receive a further boost at the year-end by the 2006 Asian
Games.
A faltering UK market failed to obtain any discernible benefit
from the soccer World Cup - likely due to the nation's early
exit from the tournament - and European forecasts were revised
down accordingly. Italy's economy also remains fragile. top
However, Lerwill remains bullish: "2006 is shaping up to
be a pretty solid year in the majority of markets around the
world and global advertising expenditure is expected to grow
by 5.7% worldwide."
Data sourced from mandmeurope.com; additional content by WARC staff
Xxxxxxxxx
MAGAZINES
6. Are Magazines Dead? (Friday, April 21, 2006)
No kidding. That’s the precise question popped by moderator
Scott Donaton at the opening panel of yesterday’s highly stimulating
Magazine Day in New York at the Marriott Marquis., attended
by more than 800 magazine professionals, Presented by The Advertising Club of NY and MPA, the announced
theme was Magazines on Demand. But let me tell you, folks —
as the curtain went up, and the plenary panel began, it was
all about engagement/ accountability/ measurement/ multiple
platforms/output-based evaluation. That was the critical dialogue
and exploration — just as it should be these days. top
But back to “ARE MAGAZINES DEAD?”—a provocative way for moderator
Donaton, associate publisher of Ad Age, to launch the session.
Panelist Andrew Swinand, a top executive at StarCom Mediavest
Group, jumped right on it. “Yes,” Swinand said, “magazines are
dead, but magazine brands are more vibrant than ever.” Magazines
are brands, increasingly using multiple platforms for their
content
Both Swinand and Jack Kliger, Chairman, CEO of Hachette Filipacchi
U.S, gave spirited, upbeat views on the dynamism of consumer
magazines, but emphasized the need to reinvent, redefine, and
adapt to the demand for multi-platform delivery of content and
audience. Solid, crisp discussion and fine audience questions
set the tone for the breakout sessions that followed.
I had a little trouble connecting with what the program described
as “the role of the demanding consumer.” As far back as I can
remember in my days as a publisher of special interest consumer
magazines, the consumer was very demanding. Or, as I believe
Jack Kliger put it, there was always consumer control. Readers
always had the right to choose what they read. top
Nor do I think we are at our best as journalists when we are
too literal about what the consumer may say he wants or how
he wants it. Where I come from editors lead! They often make
readers reach for Excellence. Of course we write differently,
or reshape content, for the needs of different platforms. Let’s
take those writers and editors who practice Essence Journalism
on the web. Was it the consumer who demanded that, or the insights
of editors with respect to the medium?
On the question of “How Magazines Connect with the increasingly
demanding consumer” I tend to put my money on editorial imagination
and journalistic discipline from cover to cover.
Anyone feel differently? Let’s talk about it.
Just one more thing. In all fairness I didn’t get to attend
a session on How Editors Keep Their Readers Hooked, moderated
by Cindy Stivers, EVP at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
But I’ll check with her on the subject soon.
Hershel Sarbin / Senior Editor / http://magazineenterprise360.com/blog/2006/04/21/are-magazines-dead-2/
3 comments for Are magazines dead?
http://magazineenterprise360.com/blog/2006/04/21/are-magazines-dead-2/
Print magazines won’t be dead until both of the following conditions
are satisfied: 1. The Baby Boomers are gone. 2. The technology
improves to the point where downloadable media can be read on
a lightweight, compact piece of hardware, with high-legibility
and vivid graphics. When will that be? Well, we Boomers will
start dying off in droves in the 2030s.
Comment by Mike Oelrich — April 24, 2006 @ 5:36 pm top
nope. but they do have to become more relevant and must have
editors with an attitude plus mission even if such an editor
creates circulation losses which may be the real readership
level. I don’t think you can force relevance on mass demos.
Comment by roy payton — April 25, 2006 @ 7:26 pm
I have been reading about the death of magazines and print
in general for a number of years. The truth is that there are
currently way too many print products on the market and a shake
out is in progress. The weak will fall and the stronger more
market driven will survive and thrive.
While the web does present opportunity it is not the promised
land and will not replace print. 50 years ago television had
print dead and buried. Well may be not!
There is an interesting concept called “Gutenberg’s Revenge”.
Basically, it means that whenever any new media wants to get
the word out about some new product or service, the first place
they turn is print. Those of us with ink stained hands know
that the best way to release any information is to get it print
first.
Web and viral marketing will help in the long run but as every
Ecompany knows full well nothing yet beats the power of print
to inform. top
Comment by Mark Schultz — April 28, 2006 @ 3:58 pm
xxxxxxxx
7. Iceberg Dead Ahead / Commentary (by George Simpson, Monday, Apr 24, 2006)
THE MAGAZINE INDUSTRY APPEARS TO be rearranging
deck chairs on the Titanic. Nina Link, who heads the Magazine
Publishers of America, responded to Merrill Lynch's report that
the Internet will take in more advertising dollars in 2006 than
magazines will by saying, "The people who report on media
like to think it's really significant. I don't." Let me
see if I can sort this out. Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine,
usually considered to be the first magazine published in the
United States, appeared in 1741. It is difficult to nail down
the start of the Internet (since the military had it under development
in some form since 1957) but let's randomly agree on the start
of the Web, as we have come to know it today, as 1994--when
Pizza Hut offered pizza ordering on its Web page. That's a 253-year
head start for magazines. Yet, in a 12-year blink of a timeline
eye, the Internet will pull in more ad dollars than the glossies.
Bravado and spin-control aside, were I the head of the MPA,
I'd be shitting a brick right about now.
This is not to say that magazines haven't already put some
serious effort into their online plays. The ill-fated Pathfinder
tried to give Time, Inc. pubs an online presence early on in
the game as, more successfully, did Conde Nast's CondeNet, which
used content from its titles to try and build communities around
themes like travel and cooking.
Most publishers choked on the notion of giving away online
what they were selling on the newsstand, and drove traffic away
in massive numbers. Others used online as an "added value"
to print buying, essentially giving away their inventory as
a "negotiating" tactic to close offline deals. The
net effect was to gravely devalue the online ad space. The magazine
industry's blundering along to try and find a way to attract
visitors to content no one wanted to pay for (and which couldn't
yet be monetized, because advertisers were still largely sitting
on the sidelines) only confused and pissed off the public--ESPECIALLY
print subscribers, who felt betrayed by publishers they'd been
paying renewals to for years and years. top
Now print magazines find themselves in the same unfortunate
transitional stage as newspapers. Readers are aging, and younger
people won't read anything that can't be downloaded to an iPod
or cut and pasted into a term paper. The offline content can't
be searched, customized or pulled off a server story by story.
Advertisers aren't sure who sees their ads--and if readers do,
how they react--putting the dead-tree industry behind a massive
accountability eight ball. No matter how many bodies are tossed
into the moat below the castle walls of Time Warner, Hearst,
Meredith or Hachette, print magazines are expensive to compile,
produce, print and distribute. And when the advertising goes
(with GM at the head of the retreat) you will see a blood-letting
of titles unprecedented in American history. You don't need
to be Jack Kliger to understand the savings of producing an
online publication versus one that gets crammed into a mailbox
every month.
All economic evidence to the contrary, there will still be
those trying to make the "bathroom" or "engagement"
arguments long after the ship has sailed. It is time for the
magazine industry to realize the inevitability of online-delivered,
customized publications--and to use the brand loyalty they still
enjoy to transition their readers to electronic platforms.
Even the Titanic turned out to be sinkable. top
8. Assessing the Shrinking Teen-Magazine
Market
The folding of the print editions of Time Inc.'s "Teen
People" and Hachette Filipacchi's "Elle Girl"
magazines (both will continue some form of their titles as websites)
is widely viewed as a sign of how the media habits of young
people are changing. Meanwhile, the spending decisions of teen-magazine
advertisers are also shifting. Marketers of video games, for
instance, cut their magazine ad spending to $28.8 million last
year from $46.1 million in 2002 -- a 37.5% drop. At the same
time, they increased spending on web ads from $4.6 million in
2002 to $12.6 million last year -- an increase of 174%. Other
observers point to the fact that millions of teenagers are flocking
to online social-networking sites as further proof of how quickly
and dramatically marketplace realities are being transformed.
But does that necessarily mean more teen-oriented print publications
are doomed? top
XXXXXX
PRINT BLUES
1. Magazines Mark Down Tough First-Half for Circulation
(Audit Bureau Rule Change Affects Most Top Titles)
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The impact of a major change in the
way the Audit Bureau of Circulations tallies a magazine's circulation
was revealed today, as the bureau released its data for the
first half of 2006 this morning. Those figures reveal for the
first time the effect of removing public-place circulation --
titles found in doctors' offices and beauty parlors -- from
the paid column and placing them under the new label "verified."
The advent of verified matters because publishers have traditionally
pegged their ad rates to paid circulations -- which until now
included many public-place copies. top
FULL ARTICLE
XXXXX
2. Circ Battle Looms Over Paid vs. Verified
(Audit Bureau Won't Count Copies in Public Places; Buyers Say
They Won't Pay)
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The next big fight between advertisers
and magazine publishers starts today. When the big consumer
titles' first-half circulation figures are released by the Audit
Bureau of Circulations, plenty will show average paid totals
below last year's levels because, for the first time, they can't
count waiting-room and other public-place copies as "paid"
-- under any circumstances. top
3. Local Papers Brace For Federated Ad Drawdown / By William
Spain, August 8, 2006
Local newspapers are bracing for Sept. 9. That's when a pullback
of as much as $425 million in spending by the medium's largest
advertiser--Federated Department Stores--begins, reports Ad
Age. It will also mark the end of a "symbiotic relationship
between homegrown department-store brands and the newspapers
they've advertised in for more than a century," the trade
magazine notes. The company's stable of department-store brands
will officially be reborn as Macy's, backed by a national branding
campaign and a $1.2 billion media plan expected to favor national
TV and magazines rather than spot TV and newspapers. While the
$425 million figure is dire, even conservative estimates, such
as one from a Deutsche Bank analyst, can run to $200 million.
The company's annual newspaper spending currently totals $830
million. Federated declined to discuss specifics, but said national
magazine buys will be part of the mix for the first time. "Newspapers
will continue to be a very important medium," says a spokesman.
"The fall launch is one point in time, and what happens
longer term is something we are still working on. Our media
selection will be driven by where our customers' eyeballs are
going." - Read the whole story... top
Xxxx
4
B-to-B Trade Remains Staid, Shows Outpace Ad Pages In Business
Pubs
by Erik Sass, Tuesday, Jul 25,
2006 top
AD DEMAND FOR B-TO-B PRINT media
continues to wane, according to the most recent estimates from
the industry's trade group, but publishers
are attracting slightly higher revenues from other sources,
especially trade shows and conferences. American Business Media
(ABM) late Monday reported that May ad page volume in the business
press declined 1.04 percent from May 2005. That's the latest
down cycle in what has proven to be an erratic first five months
of the year for the business press. Through May B-to-B ad pages
are up 0.5 percent. While the ABM compiles estimates for trade
show activity more slowly, data through the first three months
of the year indicates revenues from such events are outpacing
traditional ad pages for B-to-B publishers. Trade show revenues
among the publishers reporting to the ABM rose to $2.74 billion,
a 1.4 percent increase over the $2.59 billion they took in from
trade shows during the first quarter of 2005. The ABM estimated
that combined print advertising and trade show revenues totaled
$5.3 billion for the quarter, a 1 percent gain over the first
quarter of 2005.
In recent months, the ABM has worked hard to boost the image
of B-to-B publications as ad platforms with a new trade advertising
campaign and research showing their high degree of credibility
in the eyes of readers, a trust that the trade group said extends
to advertisers. top
For example, according to one study conducted for ABM by Harris
Interactive, more than half of executives who read B-to-B magazines
have acted on an ad they saw in one of these publications. Specifically,
"fifty-seven percent [of respondents] said it had caused
them to make a purchase or recommend a purchase" for their
company, recalled Regina Corso, research director for Harris
Interactive. top
This year's revenue figures seem to confirm another finding
of the Harris study, which placed B-to-B publications second
only to live calls by sales executives - including company reps
at trade shows and expos - in terms of sales success. According
to Harris, 70 percent of the study respondents said interactions
with company reps at industry functions caused them to make
or recommend a purchase to their company.
Further
support for the viability of B2B events was provided by a recent
study by Outsell, Inc., showing trade shows and expos to be
one of the few categories embraced by almost every major section
of American business. According to Outsell, biotech and pharmaceuticals
lead event spending, followed closely by "old economy"
manufacturers -- but also "new economy" high-tech
firms. This finding stands in sharp contrast to online advertising,
for example, which has made few inroads among manufacturers,
and print magazines, which are considered least effective of
all marketing approaches by high-tech execs.top
Xxxxxx
RADIO BLUES
1. Radio's Still Mired, Ad Demand Remains Tired / by Joe
Mandese, Monday, Jul 31, 2006
RISING DEMAND FROM NATIONAL ADVERTISERS helped offset a languishing
local radio advertising marketplace in June, but combined national
and local spot revenues for radio stations remained flat vs.
a year ago. In other words, the radio advertising marketplace
continues to be moribund, according to the latest stats released
late Friday by the Radio Advertising Bureau. The data, derived
from a compilation of self-reported sales estimates from stations
in 150 markets, indicates demand from national radio advertisers
jumped 1 percent in June, but a corresponding decrease in demand
from local advertisers kept the lid on total advertising sales.
A boost in "non-spot" sales - revenues derived from
non-traditional national and local spot radio advertising sales,
helped boost total revenues for stations, but overall June did
little to improve radio's advertising reception. top
"From a year-to-date perspective, grand total spot and
non-spot dollars were flat January through June 2006 compared
to those same months from 2005," the RAB reported. "Local
ad dollars were down one percent January through June of this
year over January through June of last year. National ad revenue
was flat January through June 2006 over January through June
of 2005."
Joe Mandese is Editor of MediaPost.
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=46195&Nid=22076&p=283589
2. On The Radio Ad Dial: CBS Gets Less, Clear Channel More
by Erik Sass, Wednesday, Aug 9, 2006
OVER THE LAST WEEK, A slew of national radio networks released
second-quarter earnings results that painted a mixed picture
of the industry--with some companies like Clear Channel posting
slight gains while others, like CBS, took big dives. Overall,
senior media execs said, the business is stuck right where it
has always been--the doldrums. top
On a year-over-year basis, Clear Channel's overall corporate
profits in the second quarter actually fell about 12 percent--from
$220.7 million to $197.5 million--but at the same time the company
achieved 7 percent growth in revenue, topping $1.85 billion.
Within this, Clear Channel Radio earned revenues of $983.5 million--a
6 percent rise that compares favorably with the industry overall,
which fell 1 percent. The shrinking profit margin was due in
part to increased expenses at Clear Channel Radio, the company
said, reassuring investors that these were purely transitional
costs associated with switching stations over to HD digital
terrestrial format and revamping Clear Channel's online presence.
According to company reps, third-quarter revenue is up 4.8
percent so far, and as expenses decline, profits should begin
rising. The company portrayed the rising revenue as a victory
for its "Less Is More" campaign--which began last
year, aiming to reduce ad "clutter" and thus lift
the overall desirability of the medium as an ad environment.
But Maribeth Papuga, senior vice president and director of local
broadcast for MediaVest USA, said this may be somewhat overblown.
"Clear Channel is coming off of some lower comps last year,
when they introduced 'Less Is More,' and it took them a while
to get the inventory levels back up," Papuga said. "They
made such a big change, by cutting back some of the 60s and
converting them to 30s, and a lot of their competitors benefited
from that in the short term. They're probably just recapturing
the market share they lost." Papuga added: "Most of
their stations are still fairly strong stations"--and with
the anti-clutter adjustment behind it, the company is well-positioned
going forward. top
Meanwhile, other radio station operators are having a somewhat
tougher time of it. Cumulus Media posted a substantial rise
in income, going from a $5 million loss in second quarter 2005
to a $4.7 million gain in 2006--but also reported that overall
revenue was essentially flat, dipping slightly from $87.4 million
to $87.3 million. And CBS Radio brought up the rear with an
8 percent drop in revenue from 2005, ending at $519.1 million.
The CBS announcement came on the heels of about 100 layoffs
at the company. Although it did not report quarterly earnings,
Emmis Communications is also experiencing difficulty in the
wake of a failed bid by CEO Jeff Smulyan to buy over $500 million
of stock back from the company's shareholders. Smulyan withdrew
his bid late Friday afternoon, sending Emmis stock tumbling
about 20 percent to end at $11.55 that afternoon.
Looking at the overall radio market, Papuga said: "it's
definitely not showing any signs of resurgence." For one
thing, according to Papuga, "radio is still a challenge
in terms of investment in the media, because there are so many
alternatives" like the Internet and a booming outdoor market.
"And there are so many issues on the measurement methods,"
she added, citing the perpetual complaint of advertisers about
radio listening diaries, the current dominant method. "Even
if Arbitron's PPM were chosen today, it would still take time
to roll that into multiple markets.
The sooner the industry can decide on some kind of electronic
measurement, the sooner it will get out of this." Papuga's
grim estimate was echoed by Anne Elkins, executive vice president
and director of local broadcast for MediaCom, who summed up
the market in one word: "Soft!" Elkins too called
for new measurement methods, but warned that even this will
be no cure-all: "I think once new measurement is available,
it might inspire some new experimentation--but what really needs
to happen, is that the radio suppliers have to stand up and
make bold new noise about the medium itself. They need to explain
how it proliferates through people's lives." Here Elkins
said she was referring to recent Arbitron studies demonstrating
radio's usefulness as both a reach and frequency medium--facts
that have gotten little media "airplay." top
Xxxxx
9. Magazines: The Safest BET in Advertising
VIDEO: ROI Expert Rex Briggs Details Why Print Is Crucial to
Media Mix
By Ann Marie Kerwin / Published: October 23, 2006
PHOENIX (AdAge.com) -- No topic is more top of mind for marketers
than just what they are getting for their ad dollars. Does the
money they spend with TV, internet and magazines actually result
in brand awareness and sales? Rex Briggs, CEO of Marketing Evolution
and co-author of "What Sticks," addressed this morning's
American Magazine Conference with some heartening news for the
magazine industry: Magazines are the most consistent of all
media in delivering both brand awareness and purchase intent.
top
The other big convergence between TV and online advertising
models is search. Carat's Verklin recently predicted that a
"search tele-vision" platform would soon emerge. Both
Google and Yahoo! have launched video search services allowing
users to find any video content posted on the Web, in a way
that conventional TV navigation systems could never have foreseen:
TV viewers search for any program, on-demand, and with relevant
advertising messages embedded. That sounds like Josh Lovison's
TV programming dream come true.
The only problem with this dream is how to make it work economically.
Can the $60 billion invested in the current TV ad impressions
business be effectively converted into branded content, search,
and granularly-targeted addressable advertising messages? Some
people think so, and they think it might even be better than
the old advertising model it would be replacing.
top
"What if we're wrong? What if people aren't skipping commercials
when they get control? What if there are other options?"
asks Gregory Wilson, founder of Red Ball Tiger. It helped develop
TiVo Showcases, which are based on the concept that if an advertising
message is relevant to a consumer they'll actually sit through
several minutes of it.
Wilson believes much of the current dialogue on Madison Avenue
is misdirected and focused on figuring out ways of "circumventing"
consumer control to keep people from skipping commercials.
"In the long-run, that has to be a losing battle,"
Wilson says. "Once people get control, they're not going
to look at something they don't want to see. The only solution
is to create good spots and relevant spots that people will
want to watch. The trick is to make commercials so that they're
not interruptive. And that goes against everything Madison Avenue
knows. My belief has always been that the only way for advertisers
and agencies to retain control is to give the consumers complete
control." top
Why is that a better economic model for advertising? Because,
Wilson says, it means that the ads people do see will have much
greater "accountability." And if they are choosing
to watch those ads, then Wilson says they are "involved"
with them. Wilson's term for describing this new economic model
is "roi," for return on involvement. In the long-run,
he says, it will be a better model for advertisers, agencies,
the media, and even consumers. Advertisers will pay for ad messages
they know consumers are interested in and involved with. Agencies
will be compensated for creating ads and media strategies that
deliver them. The media will benefit from having happier advertisers
and consumers. The consumers will be happier with their media
content, because it won't be interrupted by annoying, irrelevant
advertising.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=112665
10. A Most Grim profit Outlook for Papers (Report:
Lush margins will be chopped drastically)
top
By Samantha Melamed /
Sep 1, 2006
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_6912.asp
11. Flat First Half for Consumer Magazines (Ad pages
slip again in June, off by 1.3 percent)
By Samantha Melamed / Jul 12, 2006
Ad pages slip again in June, off by 1.3 percent versus June
2005, leaving the year up just 0.1 percent. Detroit cuts spread
their hurt. top
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_5903.asp
12. NEWSPAPERS BLUES – Gen Headlines
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/cat_index_24.asp
XXX
More News to Come....
Compiled
By Daniel Sage / President of MobileAdMarketing.com (300,000
Mobile Ad Spaces Available in 300 Markets in 48 States)
 |
The
Facts and Stats on Mobile Outdoor Advertising...
- Some 150
Million Americans Commute Every Business Day.
- The Average
American Travels 15,000 Milers Per Year.
- Outdoor
Media Reaches 96% Percent of US Consumers.
- The Average
Truckside AD Reach is about 50,000 per day.
- The Average
CPM Rate for Truckside Ads is around $1.50!
- According
to the American Trucking Association - The Average Delivery
Truck Makes 16 Mil. Impressions a Year.
|
- VS -
