Good Newspaper Riffs:Editor and Publisher has just named its top 10 newspapers of the year, and guess what? Having a great accompanying website has nothing to do with excellence. The
site is loaded with turnaround stories. Tales of newspapers that looked at declining readership and revenue and made changes to reverse their fortune. You can find your own favorites, but it seems to
me two strategies dominated the turnaround. One was understanding the audience. Several papers on the list had to take stock of their readership profile and make the tough decision that their content
and marketing were aimed at an audience that was no longer there, or not as important to the paper’s success. The second was upgrading content and making sure that content added up to a brand.
Successful newspapers have been able to change their content to be more relevant to their audiences. In many cases they’ve had to differentiate that content from a competitor or from national pubs
like
The New York Times,
Wall Street Journal and
USA Today. All the E&P top ten have found success in these measures. Media success is found in finding your own stride. It’s in
avoiding the easy way of ripping off someone else’s formula and fitting it into your template.
Here’s the link.........
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Network/Cable Riffs: Bit of a landmark
yesterday. The four network share of total US households dropped to 47 percent. That means cable, PBS and the WBs of the world have gained the upper hand for what it’s worth. I say the networks need
to do what good newspapers have done. Look at their audience, find their differentiation points and create brands. The company that should know the most about creating a brand – Disney – has been the
most disappointing. Among adults 18-49 it has lost 18 percent of its audience this year........
Recession Riffs: Two things bother me about press coverage of the ad recession and the
progression out of it. First of all this business has been through a depression not a recession. Second it will take time to get out. There will be good news and bad news and good months and
bad months. A doomsday comment from a media executive shouldn’t mean anything. Advertisers are spending again, competition in key categories is still flourishing. That’s a good start.
