Newspapers First Ad Rep Firm To Close

by Erik Sass , May 14, 2010

Newspapers First, one of the leading national advertising sales rep firms, is going out of business June 4, according to Editor & Publisher. The demise of Newspapers First is a sign that despite signs of a broader economic turnaround and some glimmers of hope at big newspaper publishers, the newspaper business is still in dire straits.

The firm represents newspapers with a total audience of 21 million during the week and 29 million on Sundays, covering the top 125 DMAs, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Miami Herald, Detroit Free Press & News, Cincinnati Enquirer, Houston Chronicle, Phoenix Republic, and Denver Post.

Newspapers First offered advertisers customized, geotargeted campaigns, taking advantage of just-in-time delivery to execute ad placements in contextually relevant editorial environments. It specialized in targeting lifestyle segments and niche demographics, as well as database marketing, product sampling and online advertising. (NF reached an aggregate Web audience generating more than 1 billion page views per month.)

Created by a consortium of newspaper publishers, which came together to combine their national sales forces over a number of decades, Newspapers First can be viewed as a bellwether for falling national print ad demand.

Last July, the company downsized its staff by almost half, according to E&P. CEO Bob Termotto said the decision to close the company was prompted by the adverse business environment, adding that the newspaper business "needs a new direction," especially in "how they're going to handle national advertising."

According to the Newspaper Association of America, total national advertising spending has plunged 46% from a peak of $8.1 billion in 2004 to just $4.4 billion in 2009. The last ad spending forecasts from Magna have total newspaper ad revenues continuing to decline through 2015.

ad spending, death of print, newspapers, sales

5 comments about "Newspapers First Ad Rep Firm To Close".

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Jonathan Mirow from BroadbandVideo, Inc., May 17, 2010 at 12:01 p.m.
Hmmm. That's because newspapers failed to embrace the challenges and changes presented by new media. They were arrogant, self-engrandized dinosaurs who truly belived that (and I quote a well-known newspaper executive circa 1989) "nothing will ever replace ink on paper". They continue down this self-destructive path even today believeing that they can erect pay walls that will stave off their empending demise. Truth be told, I'll miss the morning paper when it finally folds (though right now the Denver Post is only about 6 pages of actual news) but I find I get more and better content on my Droid. And it's easier to read on an inversion table.
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Lynn Lekander from Independent Contractor, May 17, 2010 at 2:40 p.m.

I've been in the media field for more years than I care to admit and STILL cannot figure out WHY it had been so important to have a national and a retail rate. At the very least, examine the rate structure that papers have.

Bill Gloede from the late Mediaweek, May 19, 2010 at 9:20 a.m.

Sad news. Many fine people worked for Newspapers First and its predecessor companies, Million Market Newspapers and Times Mirror Newspaper Sales. The real pity, however, is that so many people in the USA do not (or can not) read. Does not bode well for the future at all.

Jerry Foster from Energraphics, May 20, 2010 at 4:39 a.m.

Millions of us could not read the politically correct garbage the printed media was spewing out that, at best, preserved the 2 party oligopoly. The printed media served and still serves two flavors, saying to us that we should either be Marxists or Religious Zealots.

The Internet provides a better reading product geared to varying grade levels and nuances of political understanding. The comments section under the online articles from the old-time press organizations is often more interesting than the article above it. We no longer have to send in a paper letter to the editor which almost never got printed.

This will have an effect like the Gutenberg Press had. Rand Paul just blew away an establishment Republican for the US Senate because his father's ideas took off on the Internet two years ago and the seeds of that phenomenon are now sprouting electorally. Printed media would never have let Ron Paul's views see the light of day.

Jonathan Mirow from BroadbandVideo, Inc., May 20, 2010 at 8:04 p.m.

(to Jerry from Energraphics) This is not a story, article or forum about politics. This is about the demise of the newspaper industry. Both of our local newspapers (now down to one) supported the Bush regime - so don't give me any of that "liberal newspaper media" crap. It's always amazing to me that conservatives label unbiased reporting as "liberal". This is about the demise of an American Institution that will leave us all a bit for the worse when it fades for good. The only people that ever seemed to really dislike newspapers were people with something to hide.