The McClatchy Co.
McClatchy’s circulation revenues were down in the fourth quarter of 2012, the company said in an earnings report released Thursday morning. Circulation revenue fell 1.9 percent, and advertising revenue was down 6 percent.
In McClatchy’s third-quarter earnings report, CEO Patrick Talamantes predicted that revenues from the company’s paywalls would “begin to make a more significant impact” in the fourth quarter, by which time the company planned to have paywalls in place at all its papers.
Talamantes says in the new report that the paywall program, called “Plus,” “contributed $1.2 million in incremental revenues in 2012 which is impressive considering that most of our newspapers launched the program in the fourth quarter. We believe that the new Plus Program could result in more than $20 million in new revenues by the end of the year.”
The company expects “revenues from our new Plus Program in 2013 will grow as readers renew their subscriptions,” Talamantes says.
Digital advertising revenue was up 15 percent over the fourth quarter of 2011 and now represents 20 percent of all advertising revenues, the report says.
For the year, advertising revenue was down 6 percent over 2011 and circulation revenue was down 1.5 percent. Advertising losses slowed compared to 2011, when they were down 7.7 percent.
An earnings call is scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.
Previously: Circulation and advertising revenues down at McClatchy | McClatchy to expand paywalls across chain in fourth quarter | McClatchy reports $2.1 million dollar net loss in first quarter
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