Section size

A discussion on the design thread got me thinking.....with the lack of interest in national news, especially for readers of small and mid-sized papers, are section sizes decreasing?

How many pages does your section average?

My shop is all over the place: 4 on Monday, 3 Tuesday, 5-6 Wednesday through Friday, 4 Saturday and 8 Sunday (10 during football season).

It's getting to the point where we either A) don't have enough room or B) have way too much room, meaning we're forced to throw in garbage national stuff that nobody cares about.

I'm interested to see how it works elsewhere.

 

It's funny. My last paper (a 40K) averaged 8-10 pages per day. Never less than five, but up to 14.

Current paper (an 80K) averages about six per day. Never less than four, up to 10. Of course, it's summer and with our college extra section, the number will increase when football starts.

 

We've gone from 8-10 for Sunday to 4-6. During the week we simply never know. We could get three pages with a big local event going and five with jackshit going on.

But as our EIC said, "No one gives a shitass about national sports." Direct quote, I shit you not.

 

Damm, Doc. Those section sizes at your old shop are brutal.

I think I'd be happy if my shop gave us five pages during the week and 6 for Sunday, except during football season, in which case I could be happy with 8.

 

Ours is never the same, day to day or week to week... beginning of the week, 3-5 pages, thursday/friday, 4-6 pages, Saturday/Sunday, 6-8 pages...

 

When we went from broadsheet to tab with sports, we were told we'd get (2x+2) pages per day. In other words, double the number of pages we got before, add two more, and you have it.

We've done a bit better than that, I think.

Daily averages:

Monday AM: 20
Tuesday: 24
Wednesday: 24
Thursday: 24
Friday: 24
Saturday: 28
Sunday: 40

We lose these pages right off the bat:

1. Cover
2. Fan Line and TV logs on Page 2 daily
3. Column on back page daily

 

Weekly here ..

16 pages when I want that many.
12 is the norm.
8 as the seasons wind down.
6 between seasons
6 for the next few weeks so I can relax and catch my breath.

 

During non-football seasons:

Monday-Wednesday and Friday -- 6

Thursday and Saturday -- 8

Sunday -- Between 6 and 10

Football season depends on what day the local college power plays, but generally

Friday -- 8

Saturday -- 8-10

Sunday 10-12

EDIT: 85K circ, FWIW

 

Usually 3-5 during the week, every once in awhile we'll get screwed with 2 and EVERYONE calls and complains.
Our Saturday paper's usually about 6, and Sunday's in the 10-12 range.
Of course, what we get on a daily basis never has any correlation to what's going on in the sports world, so that keeps us on our toes.

 

ours (40K) is between five and 8 most of the time.

 

My 65K daily, 95K Sunday in the Northeast usually goes this way:

Monday -- 6-7
Tuesday -- 4-5
Wednesday -- 5-6
Thursday -- 8-9 (with summer golf section, 5-6 otherwise)
Friday -- 6-7 (includes syndicated That's Racin' page, a waste of money if you ask me.)
Saturday -- 4-5 (and no relief during prep football season )
Sunday -- 12-14

 

Our section is fairly consistent -- one page Tuesday through Friday, two(ish) pages Saturday and Monday.

We've actually been encouraged to put more national stuff in the section, mostly because the state's Big Paper stopped delivering to the fringes of our coverage area.