The New York Times Co. reports that ad revenues at its New England Media Group, which includes the Boston Globe (along with Boston.com and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette), were down 24.5 percent in July compared to the same month a year ago. (Via Adam Reilly.)
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Steve
On a somewhat related note, what’s the situation at the Providence Journal? I have a friend who has worked there for years, and he claims that ProJo is in the black (and it’s the only A.H.Belo newspaper that is).Is this the case? If so, why are they healthy when so few newspapers are?
acf
It sounds like the Globe is descending into a death spiral. Revenues are down so they try to cut costs, diminishing the product, which is driving away readers, which further lowers revenues, so they try to raise prices, which drives away more readers, and ’round and ’round they go.
Mike from Norwell
On the subscriber side of things, did notice last week an insert in the Saturday Globe announcing new rates for delivery effective September 1st. New rates effectively bring cost of daily paper to $1.00 (premium of 25 cents over newsstand), Sunday to $3.50 (premium of a buck over newsstand). This may finally be the tipping point to cancel my subscription. Not like I live in the hinterlands and have to take a dogsled to get to the nearest newsdealer here. I’d still pick up the paper every day on my way to work or to get coffees, but enough is enough.Not many magazines would survive if a subscription was over face price of the periodical. Why such a premium charged to subscribers? And these prices don’t include any tip to the carrier.Death spiral is right; their business model is approaching the kid with the lemonade for sale at 100 bucks (all I have to do is sell one).
Dan Kennedy
Mike: I do not know whether the Globe specifically has this in mind, but some industry thinkers believe print newspapers need to evolve into a smaller, more expensive product for an elite few, with the Web site, reverse-published free tabs, and the like for everyone else. What the Globe is doing may seem like a desperation move, but directionally it may be the correct one.
Jason Baer
When I first read this, I wasn't too concerned about the declining online ad growth.But then I looked a LOT deeper at the data, and now I'm concerned about the long-term future of NYT and other newspaper-based online entities.I just finished an explanatory and somewhat alarming blog post about it, with charts and graphs and such."Why Barack Obama and Blogs Are Killing the New York Times Online" http://is.gd/SteJason BaerConvince & Convert – Internet consulting for agencieshttp://www.convinceandconvert.com