Latest newspapers dropping print editions

[Mr. X]

 

[LanceyHoward]

Two things I found interesting in the article.

1. 70% of the print subscribers to the Maine papers have not signed up for any electronic product.

2. The Maine papers also distribute the national papers such as the NYT, etc. The executive quoted said that the national publishers will have to either wait until Tuesday and get two papers delivered to homes or pay the entire cost of the distributors to deliver on Monday. These smaller papers dropping seven day service will probably mean the end of national home delivery for the NYT and the WSJ.

Also, has every McClatchy paper stopped or is planning to stop Saturday delivery or does the chain have some holdouts who will continue to publish seven days a week?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Too bad, though at least they aren’t eliminating newsroom jobs along with it. Back in the day I worked with someone who now works at one of those papers. He regularly posts link to the tremendous work they do there.

 

[BTExpress]

All McClatchy papers will eventually drop Saturday print (although "print pages" are still being built as part of the eEdition).

Kansas City and Miami will be the last wave in mid-March. Charlotte, Bradenton, Fort Worth, Raleigh and Sacramento some time before that.

 

[LanceyHoward]

All McClatchy papers will eventually drop Saturday print (although "print pages" are still being built as part of the eEdition).

Kansas City and Miami will be the last wave in mid-March. Charlotte, Bradenton, Fort Worth, Raleigh and Sacramento some time before that.

It will be interesting to see what the revenue drops will be for McClatchy as compared to Gannett/Gatehouse and Lee, which as far as I know, have not reduced printing frequemcy.

 

[wicked]

Gannett/GateHouse is now adding an "online extra" component to its e-editions. It's 10-12 "pages" of wire stories. I'm not sure if that's a new thing or existed before the merger in some other form. I'm thinking that won't move the needle for subscribers.

 

[Equalizer]

Gannett/GateHouse is now adding an "online extra" component to its e-editions. It's 10-12 "pages" of wire stories. I'm not sure if that's a new thing or existed before the merger in some other form. I'm thinking that won't move the needle for subscribers.

GH was doing this in my last few months there.

 

[Severian]

Gannett/GateHouse is now adding an "online extra" component to its e-editions.

Who still reads newspaper "e-editions"?

 

[SFIND]

All McClatchy papers will eventually drop Saturday print (although "print pages" are still being built as part of the eEdition).

Gannett/GateHouse is now adding an "online extra" component to its e-editions. It's 10-12 "pages" of wire stories. I'm not sure if that's a new thing or existed before the merger in some other form. I'm thinking that won't move the needle for subscribers.

Is there a bigger waste of time and resources than this? I don't have access to analytics of e-editions for our chain but I've been told these extra sections are largely ignored.

Anecdotally I've yet to talk to anyone (whether they read ours or another company's paper) that reads these extra sections.

 

[FileNotFound]

I always forget the e-edition is part of my digital subscriptions. It’s a transitional product meant to ease in readers who aren’t used to having to scroll to find stories — and also exposes the existential weakness of digital news presentation, which is making the reader scroll to find poorly categorized stories. If news websites were better, there would be no need for a digital replica of the print edition.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I always forget the e-edition is part of my digital subscriptions. It’s a transitional product meant to ease in readers who aren’t used to having to scroll to find stories — and also exposes the existential weakness of digital news presentation, which is making the reader scroll to find poorly categorized stories. If news websites were better, there would be no need for a digital replica of the print edition.

I wonder how long if McClatchy will eventually drop them. Does Newhouse, which at most of their locations only offers home delivery three or four times a week, still produce e-editions?

 

[BTExpress]

The thing about the eEdition: It still follows the regular print deadline (give or take 15 minutes), even on the nights when no physical paper goes to press.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I assume when these papers drop a day from the print cycle they do lower weekly subscription rates. So the reduction in frequency is effectively a price increase. Is my assumption correct?

 

[Readallover]

Newhouse has not put up paywalls while reducing printed days for some of its papers.

 

[InTheKnow22]

The statewide Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is almost completely a digital product now with subscribers reading a daily enhanced, hybrid E-edition paper either through traditional means (desktop version through the website, etc) or on iPads given to them as part of their $34/month subscription. For the time being at least, there is still some printed papers available in the Little Rock region at $2 daily, $3 Sunday. All subscribers also can receive a printed Sunday paper. So far, this is a successful operation. Time will tell whether it continues to work out and prevent any newsroom job losses.

 

[apeman33]

I assume when these papers drop a day from the print cycle they do lower weekly subscription rates. So the reduction in frequency is effectively a price increase. Is my assumption correct?

Depends on how you interpret it, I suppose. When we went from four to two days, we extended every current subscribers' term so that they got the same number of issues they were paying for. If other papers didn't do that, then it was effectively a price increase. On the other hand, we had a decrease in revenue in the short term because the time before a current subscription expired doubled.

 

[BTExpress]

I assume when these papers drop a day from the print cycle they do lower weekly subscription rates. So the reduction in frequency is effectively a price increase. Is my assumption correct?

But the stuff is still available online. Plus other stuff that would never have fit into a print edition.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

The statewide Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is almost completely a digital product now with subscribers reading a daily enhanced, hybrid E-edition paper either through traditional means (desktop version through the website, etc) or on iPads given to them as part of their $34/month subscription. For the time being at least, there is still some printed papers available in the Little Rock region at $2 daily, $3 Sunday. All subscribers also can receive a printed Sunday paper. So far, this is a successful operation. Time will tell whether it continues to work out and prevent any newsroom job losses.

What’s the ADG doing with all the data it is getting off those iPads?