Poynter. » Biz Blog

Koch brothers acquiring Tribune newspapers? I’d bet against it

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:56:08 +0000

I’m not a fan of speculating who will buy newspapers that are on the block. But I’ll make an exception with some quick thoughts on Tribune Co.’s publishing group — currently attracting investor interest as expected but likely months away … Read more

New research finds 92 percent of time spent on news consumption is still on legacy platforms

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:46:00 +0000

Here is a surprising statistic from leading consultants McKinsey and Company: When you measure news consumption in the U.S. by time spent, rather than raw audience numbers, digital platforms are getting only 8 percent of the action.

McKinsey data … Read more

Fairfax Media CEO suggests deep reductions in legacy costs need to precede reduced print frequency

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:49:23 +0000

Talk about digital disruption. The CEO of Australia’s giant Fairfax Media said last week that he is preparing the company to abandon printed newspapers entirely “in three, five or 10 years.”

“Print revenues have been going down and are going … Read more

NAA turns feisty, boasting of ad effectiveness and digital subscription success

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:25:48 +0000

The Newspaper Association of America’s annual mediaXchange conference is always part industry promotion, an occasion for expressions of confidence. But at this year’s edition in Orlando last week, those sentiments had a fighting edge.

Outgoing chairman Jim Moroney, publisher … Read more

Wanderful launching big-deal initiative to protect & expand newspapers’ insert business

Rick Edmonds — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:54:18 +0000

With years of development and a $22 million start-up investment, the newspaper industry will roll out a new tool aimed at “fun, local discovery shopping” on 327 sites this Monday.

The timing coincides with the Newspaper Association of America’s annual … Read more

Deeper data dive finds $5.5 billion in uncounted newspaper industry revenue

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 04:08:36 +0000

Years of negative reports on ad revenue losses could leave the newspaper industry muttering, “I demand a recount.” The Newspaper Association of America has just completed such an exercise and found some solid gains that have been overlooked previously in … Read more

Is Google’s agreement with French publishers exportable to the U.S.?

Rick Edmonds — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:47:23 +0000

You may have missed the news in early February that Google has established a $60 million Euro (about $80 million) fund to support a group of French publishers in their digital enterprises.

Not only that, Google chairman Eric Schmidt jetted … Read more

State of the News Media 2013 shows how industry is responding to ‘continued erosion’ of resources

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 04:01:35 +0000

Newspapers’ fortunes, admittedly from a rock-bottom base, have been looking up lately — Warren Buffett and others have bought papers, digital pay plans are boosting circulation revenue, and new lines of business like digital marketing services are taking root.

But … Read more

How 4 newspaper organizations created new revenue streams

Rick Edmonds — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:54:48 +0000

U.S. newspaper organizations are shedding print ad revenue far faster than they can generate replacement dollars, reported Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism a year ago, and those organizations remain stubbornly resistant to innovation — except for a few … Read more

At New York Times, 65% of digital-only subscribers are ‘entirely new’

Rick Edmonds — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:07:02 +0000

The New York Times has analyzed its digital-only subscriber base and found that nearly two-thirds are “entirely new” customers. Gannett reported essentially the same split in its full-year earnings report earlier this week.

In response to my question, corporate communications … Read more