3 Gannett papers going to 3-days-per-week

If it were that cut and dried, newspapers wouldn't be shrinking.

What you have are a lot of corporations who have had years of 20% profit margins. And when they see a 12% profit margin, they jump ship.

 

Nobody has seen a 20 percent profit margin in more than a decade.

What these companies DO deal with every day, however, is servicing debt that for some chains is in the billions. McClatchy only recently got its debt below the $1 billion mark and did a reverse stock split (1 for 10) because it kept risking getting de-listed as the price kept falling below $1.

I'm pretty sure this company's problems go beyond dealing with "only" a 12 percent profit margin.

 

They need to go to Texas on a Friday night in the fall and see if it matters

 

They'd ignore the reality, then hold a bunch of meetings with the remainder of the staff to brainstorm for more ideas on how to increase readership and web clicks without actually having to spend any money.

 

If two .500 level teams play in the suburbs of Dallas or Houston what would the game draw. I read about the fabulous stadiums and the fan interest but is that confined to the powerhouse programs?

 

But isn't web traffic the point? If covering Friday night football in Texas will drive people online, then there'd be a reason to keep paying someone to cover it without the print obligations.

It becomes a quest to determine what moves the needle how much. Hockey in Wisconsin? Wrestling in Pennsylvania? Maybe boys lacrosse in northern New Jersey?

I tend to avoid the analytics for my site, because on their face, the numbers are depressing. I find it hard to get all charged up over triple-digit page views, even if that's three times as many clicks as the next thing.

 

Well yes. The problem, though, is that Gannett has its "one size fits all" mentality, and doesn't take into account local tastes. They'll come up with this early deadline and reduced resources, then complain when its papers aren't getting the clicks, then want a whole new initiative to try to get those clicks, without spending the money to do it.

 

Then when they come up with some hairbrained ideas (with lots of corporate-speak) that are doomed to fail, they get awarded big, fat bonuses ...

 

I can't say about Houston, never covered a game down there. In Dallas/Ft Worth it depends on the program.
In the area of the Texas Gannett papers, yes. Abilene, San Angelo and Wichita Falls usually draw big crowds every week regardless of record. Though the years they are good, the crowds are even bigger. The small towns around them also draw really well in regards to the population. It is still a big social gathering, not to mention there ain't a damn thing to do otherwise

 

How many page views typically would drive a story on to the most viewed list at your paper. What is that as a percentage of your circulation?

 

Don't most readers check reporters' Twitter accounts for Friday night scores, brief recaps and photos/video? How does the newspaper website benefit from that?

EDIT: newspaper website

 

Because Twitter.