• by Dana Blankenhorn , March 3, 2003

Tribune Publishing Co.’s Los Angeles Times will take over home delivery of The New York Times in southern California this month. It’s yet-another step in the New York paper’s effort to become a true national newspaper. The paper now has same-day delivery in 237 markets, said spokesman Toby Usnik, selling national as well as zoned regional advertising.

The agreement is also another step toward helping media planners buy national campaigns using competitive national newspapers and chains with national reach. Almost half The New York Times’ circulation is now outside the New York metropolitan area, Usnik added, with regional buys available covering Washington, D.C. and New England, as well as New York.

The New York Times’ daily circulation stands at about 1.1 million, 1.7 million on Sunday, Usnik said. This trails USA Today with about 2.2 million subscribers and The Wall Street Journal with about 1.8 million. But its lead over other papers, including The Los Angeles Times, is lengthening. On the advertising side, Tribune Publishing is countering the New York paper’s greater reach with its Tribune Media Services (TMS), created after it bought Times-Mirror Co. in 2000, said vice president-communications Gary Whiteman.

Along with The Los Angeles Times, TMS sell New York ads in Newsday, as well as papers in Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere. It also sells TV, magazines, and WGN’s national cable reach. TMS expects to generate $60-70 million in revenue this year, Whiteman said.

“Tribune Media Net’s focus is on customizing ad packages for different advertising clients, and selling cross-media within markets,” Whiteman added. “In Chicago you can buy WGN, Chicago magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. Or you can buy cross-market. If you throw in WGN cable we reach 80% of households in one form or another.”

Buyers of Los Angeles Times ads can buy a national edition, which is distributed in Washington D.C. and northern California, said spokeswoman Martha Goldstein, but “the muscle of our ciruclation is the five-county area of southern California.”

The Los Angeles Times also delivers two other national publications – Investors Business Daily and The Financial Times – Goldstein said, and is interested in pursuing other agreements.

The New York Times gets its national reach through a network of 20 printing partners, Usnik said, but southern California circulation will still be served through the paper’s existing print partner in Torrance, California. In markets where The New York Times does not have a newspaper delivery partner it often uses Publishers Circulation Fulfillment of Maryland to make deliveries, said Usnik. The company generated $560 million in circulation revenues last year, up 11% from a year before, he said.