Poynter. » Biz Blog

Christian Science Monitor sees traffic, revenues rising after 3 years of Web-first strategy

Rick Edmonds — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:36:15 +0000

Three years ago, the Christian Science Monitor began a jump-in-the-deep-end version of digital transformation. The Monitor killed its five-day-a-week print edition, started a weekly magazine version and shifted daily operations entirely to the Web.

A protracted period, most of… Read more

New circulation numbers likely to show Sunday strength, impact of paid digital

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:25:20 +0000

When the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases six-month newspaper circulation totals Tuesday, it will be the first opportunity in 18 months to make valid apples-to-apples comparisons.

A complicated set of new rules was put in place, beginning September… Read more

Business troubles show signs of deepening despite strong 1st quarter at New York Times Company

Rick Edmonds — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:11:17 +0000

The New York Times Co. deserves to pat itself on the back, as executives did today in announcing first quarter results, for the first anniversary of its well-planned and superbly executed digital pay plan.

The New York Times now has 454,000… Read more

Media General continues to struggle with print revenue losses, debt restructuring

Rick Edmonds — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:57:46 +0000

Media General reported first quarter results today with big continuing problems outweighing a strong performance by its broadcast unit.

CEO Marshall Morton said in a conference call with investors that plans to sell all or most of its newspapers… Read more

Gannett’s poor 1st quarter results bode ill for newspapers in 2012

Rick Edmonds — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:52:14 +0000

Gannett is the first newspaper organization to report earnings this year, but the results were not appreciably better than the bleak patterns of 2011.

Print advertising continues to fall — 8.3 percent compared to the same period a year… Read more

Gannett expects paywall ‘will be worth $100 million to us in 2013′

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:49:03 +0000

If you look past last year’s numbers, good things are starting to happen in the industry, Newspaper Association of America president and CEO Caroline Little said, opening last week’s conference in Washington.

Having myself dished up many of those… Read more

Healthy snacks, ‘digital first’ and the speed of the news industry’s transformation

Rick Edmonds — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:30:53 +0000

Reading stories about the travails of non-media companies, I find myself drawn to analogies to the plight of the newspaper industry.

Thus I was stopped short a few weeks back by a New York Times report on a strategy… Read more

Why Gary Pruitt’s move to the AP makes sense (for McClatchy too)

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:30:43 +0000

I’m not a fan of trying to predict major executive moves in the newspaper industry. (Who knows who will be the next CEO of The New York Times?) Once they do happen, though, as with CEO Gary Pruitt’s decision… Read more

6 trends for newspapers in 2012, from a Sunday boom to an executive bust

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 04:01:56 +0000

The 9th annual State of the News Media report, released this morning, has enough statistics to float a boat. But two jumped out at me.

One: Through the first three quarters of 2011, print advertising losses outweighed digital ad… Read more

Newspaper advertising was down 7.3 percent, almost $2 billion, in 2011

Rick Edmonds — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:56:19 +0000

The Newspaper Association of America has posted its final tally of newspaper advertising statistics for 2011, and as expected, it is not a pretty picture.

Total advertising revenue was down 7.3 percent, a percentage point worse than in 2010.… Read more