Torstar and Postmedia swap and close most of 40 dailies and weeklies

The news released on Monday about the swap of some 40 daily and weekly titles in Ontario between Postmedia and Torstar -- and the imminent closure of most of them -- is a tragedy for small and medium-sized towns and cities. 

While the acquirers/swappers can rationalize the outcomes as just business, local news and information is taking a real hit. This kind of sweeping consolidation means that local content will not be replaced and readers will be taking a hit, as will the people who have been employed reporting and producing local news. 

Torstar says it expects the deal will result in cost saving synergies of between $5 and $7 million. It is not known what savings Postmedia expects to achieve. The Torstar closures, which are effective immediately, will affect 46 full-time and part-time employees; a total of about 250 full- and part-time employees will lose their jobs at the two companies as a result of the transaction.

The usual recent excuse -- that printed papers would be displaced or replaced by online versions -- is not even being suggested; essentially, the casualties are being attributed to failing business models, where declining advertising revenues means the publications have outlived their traditional business models. 

The dailies  St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Falls Review, Welland Tribune  and Peterborough Examiner will continue to operate.  Some longstanding titles are likely going to disappear as a result of the swap, such as the Barrie Examiner,  Orillia Packet and Times, the Fort Erie Times plus several dozen smaller community weeklies such as the 150-year old St. Marys Journal Argus. 

The same fate is true of Torstar freepapers under the Metro banner in Ottawa and Winnipeg, which Postmedia will likely close in favour of their own free-circulation weeklies. Torstar has in turn acquired freepapers 24 Hours Toronto and 24 Hours Vancouver. from Postmedia and will probably shut them down. 

With half its circ gone, USA Today may stop daily publishing within 5 years

It was suggested Wednesday that USA Today may cease publishing as a daily paper within the next five or six years. 

However, quoted in a story from MediaPost, editor-in-chief David Callaway said in a discussion about the "Future of Media" that the paper would continue publishing some sort of print product for years to come. 

If USA Today were to shutter its daily print edition, it would become the second major U.S. newspaper to go online only, following the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which went all digital with drastic personnel cuts in 2009.... 

Over the last decade, USA Today’s average weekday print circulation fell by half, from 2.22 million in the six-month period ending September 2004 to 1.08 million for the same period in September 2014, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, previously known as the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

British newspapers to split away from shared research with magazines

The decision by British newspapers to split away from a combined research measurement system they have shared for 60 years with the magazine industry is apparently driven by a hunger for better information about digital audiences. Guy Consterdine, research consultant for the international magazine association FIPP says the National Readership Service (NRS) has worked well, but magazines and newspapers are diverging:

To some extent one could see a split coming. As in so many other countries, for most national newspapers their total audiences have become weighted towards websites and other digital sources, as the latter grow rapidly while their print circulations continue to fall. For example, The Guardian has 10.4 million visitors to its website but only 3.9 million adult readers of the daily printed newspaper. Consumer magazines, by contrast, have audiences heavily weighted towards print. The newspapers’ core product – the fast-moving news, continuously updated – is so much more suited to digital media than once-a-day print that newspapers (or newsbrands as they are increasingly calling themselves) must focus more on their digital audiences in future, especially if as some commentators predict most newsbrands will eventually become digital-only.

In Canada, magazines are served by the PMB, the Print Measurement Bureau and newspapers are served by NADBank. PMB has been developing a combined print and online audience measurement mechanism in collaboration with comScore.  

More people worldwide reading papers than ever before, but money is the problem

More people in the world are reading newspapers than ever before, but research reported by TheMediaOnline shows that those papers haven't found a way to match audience growth with revenue, such as from digital platforms. An annual report from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) says that more than half the world's adult population reads a newspaer; more than 2.5 billion are in print,  more than 600 million online, 500 million in both print and online and 100 million in digital form only

“The facts are hard to dismiss: newspapers are pervasive, they are part of the fabric of our societies. Our industry is stronger than many imagine,” said Larry Kilman, deputy CEO of WAN-IFRA, who presented the figures on Monday at the annual World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, the global summit meetings of the world’s press.

The study found that global circulation has increased by 1.1% between 2010 and 2011.  It also found that digital readers of papers spend less time and visit fewer pages than do traditional print readers; this lack of "intensity" is reflected in revenues from advertising.

U.S. newspaper advertising fell by more than half in six years 2005-2011

Newspaper advertising revenues in the U.S. have declined 51.6% in six years -- from $49.4 billion in 2005 to $23.9 billion in 2011. This is according to a story in MediaDailyNews, based on data released recently by the Newspaper Association of America. The year 2005 was when internet and online advertising began to take a serious bite out of the business.

"The collapse has hit every major category of newspaper ads, beginning with the categories most vulnerable to online competition -- the classifieds -- but then quickly extending to the other traditional mainstays of the newspaper business, national and retail advertising," the story said.

Total classified revenues fell 71%, automotive 79%, national ad revenues 53% and retail revenues 46.4% over the six years. While newspapers' online revenues grew 167% or  over the same period, it is estimated that overall online ad revenues were twice that, growing 338%.

Torstar affirms faith in print with takeover of full control of Metro newspaper chain

Torstar Corp., the parent company of the Toronto Star, has purchased virtually full control of Metro, the free weekday newspaper distributed in cities across Canada. Torstar announced the terms of the deal after markets closed Friday. It paid its partner Metro International SA of Sweden $51.5 million for 80% of its 50% share in the Free Daily News Group; Torstar now owns 90% of the business.

The Free Daily News Group publishes Metro in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and London, Ont. It also publishes in Halifax in a joint venture with Transcontinental Media G.P. The combined daily readership of the chain is more than 1 million.

“We see this as a terrific opportunity to continue to build this growing, national franchise,” said Torstar president and CEO David Holland in an interview with the Star. “For the past decade, it's been a strong medium, attractive to both readers and advertisers. We think that will continue.”

He said the acquisition complements the rest of Torstar's media assets including Star Media Group, Metroland and other digital properties.

Lorenzo DeMarchi, Torstar's chief financial officer, said readership and advertising have increased steadily at Metro papers, and at $51.5 million, is a good investment.

“It's a reasonable price. It reflects the growth trajectory that the business has been on,” DeMarchi said. “Metro is a print medium that has shown strong growth. We continue to believe in print and Metro's a great example of that.”

Most recent NADbank figures for fall 2010 and spring 2011, the "read yesterday" readership among adults in the Greater Toronto area was 966,000 for the Toronto Star and 495,000 for the Toronto edition of Metro.

NYT said to be readying a charge of less than $20 a month for full online access

Though publishers continue to thrash around trying to determine what readers will put up with and pay up for content, there are some glimmers of a protocol emerging. This is illustrated by Bloomberg's report, quoting "a person familiar with the matter" that the New York Times will be charging readers less than $20 a month for access to its full web version. 

The price has been set at less than the $19.99 that customers pay for a New York Times subscription on Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle reader, said the person, who declined to be identified because the price hasn’t been made public yet. Last month, Scott Heekin-Canedy, president of the New York Times, said the price would be comparable to the Kindle subscription.

Times Co. and other newspaper publishers are trying to determine how much of their online content should remain free, how much can be moved behind a paywall, and how much to charge for access. The companies are seeking new revenue sources as print advertising and circulation revenue decline amid competition from Internet publications.

Newspapers Canada rebranding presents a united front to the world

The Canadian Newspapers Association and the Canadian Community Newspapers Association have created a single, unified brand called Newspapers Canada. While the organizations retain their own structure and governance, they have been collaborating for some years on conferences, marketing and research. Now, principally for marketing purposes, they are presenting a united front, with a new name, logo and website.

(This is similar to the "big tent" approach that has been taken by the magazine industry, with the creation of Magazines Canada and the collaboration with the Canadian Business Press on such things as the annual industry MagNet conference.)

Quebecor's 24 Heures bumps Transcontinental's Metro out of Montreal subway

Quebecor Media has hip-checked Transcontinental Media out of the way to take over exclusive distribution rights for its free daily paper 24 Heures on the Montreal subway system. La Société de Transport de Montréal (STM) said Thursday it has granted a five year exclusive contract to Quebecor's Sun Media Corp. following the considerations of tendered proposals; the new arrangement begins January 3. 

Previous to this, since 2001, Transcontinental Media's Métro newspaper had exclusive distribution rights on the Metro.

The STM will receive a page of content in each edition of the 5-day-a-week 24 Heures.

A press release from Quebecor said that 24 Hours/Heures employs over 30 journalists, desk manager and photographers and is the most widely distributed free daily in the Greater Montreal area.

"As a company firmly established in Montreal, Quebecor Media understands the necessity to help meet the city's public transit challenges. That is why we are very happy to be joining forces with the STM and to leverage our media and technology networks to help create a mass movement towards public transportation," said Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and CEO of Quebecor Media.

"Our new distribution partnership with the STM will allow us to reach all metro users, throughout the day. This will undoubtedly contribute to accelerating the exceptional growth 24 Heures has experienced since being launched in 2001," said Christianne Benjamin, 24 Heures Editor and 24 Heures-24 Hours Vice-President at Sun Media Corporation.

According to the most recent NADbank data, Métro had five-day accumulated circulation of 688,800 in Greater Montreal; 24 Heures had 561,900. This compares with Journal de Montreal (owned by Quebecor) with 1.124 million,  La Presse with 650,100 and The Gazette (English language) 442,600.

Thomson Reuters woos publishers by launching Reuters America wire service

Although it denies that it is an "anti-AP" move, Thomson Reuters has launched an American wire service that promises to provide cash-strapped newspapers, radio and television with general news, business and financial coverage, sports and entertainment news.According to a Reuters story, the service called Reuters America is part of a multi-million dollar investment that aims to compete with the Associated Press and CNN's wire service.

Reuters is hiring journalists and using outside journalists, or "stringers," to provide general news stories in addition to its business and financial news. It also will write stories commissioned by its news clients.

"This is being designed and being run in a way that is not one size fits all," said Chris Ahearn, Thomson Reuters' president of media. "It gives (publishers) comfort and flexibility that there are other choices than... some of the legacy providers."

Reuters owns a worldwide news agency as well as a newswire business providing financial and professional data to business.

 The Reuters story points out that, about two years ago, major metropolitan newspapers such as the Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the Boston Globe, urged the AP to lower its fees and some newspapers such as the the Tribune Co., publishers of the Chicago Tribune,  threatened to leave. At about that time, CNN started its news agency as a cheaper alternative.

The sucker rate and the New York Times

While magazine circulation directors worry all the time about price sensitivity of their subscribers (and track their data religiously to try and predict their likely response to, say, moving from $29 a year to $32)at least they think of them as sensible consumers.
There's been a flurry of comment in the U.S. about the inadvertent revelation by a New York Times executive that the paper raised its rates and no one apparently noticed. According to a story on Slate,

The assistant managing editor for new products and strategic initiatives at the New York Times made a minor strategic error last week. On Nov. 10, Gerald Marzorati blurted out at a Times panel discussion on digital media that the paper had "north of 800,000 subscribers paying north of $700 a year for home delivery" who "don't seem to know that." During the recession the paper raised the home-delivery rate 5 percent, Marzorati said, but only 0.01 percent canceled. "I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they're literally not understanding what they're paying," Marzorati said. "That's the beauty of the credit card." (He meant not the credit card itself but rather its use by the Times for automatic subscription renewals.)

The truth is that, with a little work (not unlike hunting down the best rate offered for hotel rooms or airline fares)those credulous souls could have the paper for half that. As Slate senior writer Timothy Noah says

"I feel a little bad sharing this information at a time when newspapers—even the mighty New York Times—are struggling to stay solvent. I am a lifelong Times reader and onetime Times employee. I love the product, as we longtime subscribers tend to.

But it doesn't sit easy with me that the Times' most loyal readers—the people who love the paper so much that they figure they'll pay whatever they have to—end up paying twice what they have to simply because it doesn't occur to them that the good Gray Lady is playing them for suckers."

Toronto Sunday Star to carry New York Times content in two premium sections

The Toronto Star, Canada's largest newspaper, has struck a content-sharing deal with the New York Times that will see the Star on Sundays carrying two new sections -- a 16-page news and commentary broadsheet and a 12-page tabloid version of the NYT Book Review. The news and comment section will feature a revolving roster of NYT columnists, says a story published in Marketing.

"This is one of the largest marketing campaigns the Star has launched in many years," said Sandy MacLeod, vice president, consumer marketing at the Star, in a statement. "We believe that through the combination of newspaper, television, radio, point-of-sale, telemarketing and e-mail marketing efforts we will reach almost every adult reader in the Greater Toronto Area."

The new sections will be free for six weeks then home-delivery subscribers will be offered the sections for $1 extra a week, starting November 21. The Sunday Star will be doubling in price to $2, starting November 28.

While the Toronto paper already used The New York Times news service, Star spokesperson Bob Hepburn said The Times approached the Star months ago about this new product.

"We looked at the product and studied it quite extensively," said Hepburn. "We've taken it through focus groups, some online surveys and around to advertising agencies, and have had a very favourable response all-around."

The Star will sell local ads for the section, which will be produced by The Times.

National Post offers all newsroom the chance at a buyout; not all will get one

The National Post, in the wake of similar offers at other Postmedia papers across Canada, is offering its entire newsroom the opportunity to apply for a buyout. According to J-Source, not everyone applying will receive such a payout. The employees have until Friday to decide.

The Torontoist quotes an unnamed National Post source as saying the buyout offers are "just a way of trimming the fat," our source explained; the buyout offers are "designed for people who don't want to stay anyway.""

A Toronto Life blog post says: "We have to note that just because people have been offered buyouts doesn’t mean that the Post‘s newsroom is dead or dying. The CBC offered a really broad buyout package to its staff last year and then winnowed down the number it would actually pay out."

As one commenter, Peter Rehak, said in response to the J-Source post:

Having been through these buyout situations, the practice is to offer buyouts to everyone. Having read the NatPost memo, it is clear that employees have to apply and can be turned down. Thus, the paper will keep the ones they want.

Is this nice? No, it isn't. It happens in all industries but when it happens in the media, it gets a lot more publicity.

Globe editor tells journalists that re-launched paper will be "magazine-style"

[ This post has been updated] I'm only now catching up (courtesy of J-source) with John Stackhouse of the Globe and Mail, Canada's largest circulation national paper, saying last weekto the Canadian Association of Journalists  that the daily newspaper model as it stands is doomed and that when his paper relaunches this fall it will be as a daily full-colour magazine-style publication printed on good-quality stock and aimed at the Globe's digital readers.

[Update: The author of the real-time post on J-source, Ivor Shapiro, acknowledges that he may have overstated in the headline and misinterpreted Globe editor John Stackhouse's comments. J-source has posted an update, quoting him:

Approached for comment on J-Source's May 29 post about The Globe and Mail's relaunch plans, editor-in-chief John Stackhouse said the post was inaccurate. While the Globe was "taking some inspiration from magazines learning from the success of the ones [mentioned in the post] as well as newspapers in southern Europe and South America," describing the planned relaunch as "a daily magazine" was "way, way off," Stackhouse said in an email.]

It's interesting to read his comments in conjunction with an article On the Eve of Destruction about the Globe by Matthew Halliday in the spring issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism. 

World's oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer redesigns

The Observer, the world's oldest Sunday newspaper, is relaunching this weekend and, with it is a wholly new design and a new arts section called The New Review, designed by the paper's creative director Carolyn Roberts. A preliminary look shows that the Berliner format hybrid (newspaper/magazine) has considerable charm. 

You can look at a funny promo video for the relaunch, read the editor John Mulholland on the re-launch and see a video of the paper's writers talking about what the paper means to them.  

Looked at from the perspective of Canada, which doesn't offer a true Sunday quality newspaper, it makes me pine a little for the opportunity. And it is interesting that, far from panicking in the face of the oft-professed but unproven claims of the death of print, the Guardian Media Group is resolutely investing in the future. 

 

[Thanks to MagCulture.com for the images.]

CanWest papers, including National Post, now officially up for sale

The National Post and all the CanWest newspapers in major cities across the country are now officially for sale. 

The chain was put into bankruptcy protection this morning and it was reported that the major creditors, including Canada's five largest banks, plan to put in a "stalking horse" bid for the whole package of papers -- not to own and run them, but to establish the starting price for an auction. The price is estimated at $1 billion give or take.

La Presse settles with three unions; one to go

La Presse has reached an agreement in principle with three unions, including editorial and newsroom staff, according to a story posted by CBC News. No details will be announced until the agreement is finalized. The Montreal newspaper threatened that it would close if its 8 unions didn't accept proposed cost cutting. With this latest settlement, only the union representing distribution workers has not come to terms.

Prelude to a sale: National Post to join the family of CanWest dailies

If it can get permission from the courts and its senior lenders, the National Post is being moved out this Friday of its holding company, CanWest Media, to join other CanWest dailies and weeklies in CanWest Limited Partnership. This is not mere paperwork, but a means of tuning up the money-losing national daily and putting it in a place where it could be sold along with the other papers in the chain.

According to a story in the Globe and Mail, CanWest Limited Partnership will assume all of the National Post's obligations and liabilities under its pension plan; National Post employees will be offered employment with the new company.

Industry analysts say CanWest could fetch more than $1-billion for its newspaper assets as signs of life in the finances of the newspaper industry drive up interest in acquisitions.

One analyst, who asked to remain anonymous, has said that the National Post is considered a money-loser and that CanWest would want to lump it in with other more profitable papers in order to get it sold.

Chris Diceman, an analyst at Dominion Bond Ratings Service, believes if CanWest does go ahead with the rumoured plans, the company could pull in between $600-million and $900-million for the lumped together assets in a first round of bids.

“If there was a bidding war for these assets either in, or part of, creditor protection, that multiple may go up even higher than that,” he said recently.

U.S. biggest papers' circulation fall continues

The average weekday circulation of the top 83 largest U.S. newspapers (over 100,000 circulation)saw an 11.7% drop in the six months ending September 30, according to an analysis of Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures compiled by MediaPost. The total average weekday circulation declined from 22,231,728 to 19,637,991.

The analysis looked back over several years and said the rate of decline seems to be accelerating:

Six months ending September

2009 (11.7%)

2008 (3.2%)

2007 (4.5%)

2006 (3.1%)

While publishers have expressed hope that there is a natural bottom to the downward curve -- a core readership who won't forgo subscriptions -- the new ABC data suggests newspapers haven't reached it yet.

News-sharing deals becoming widespread

Last week, we ran an item about the CBC and the National Post swapping content -- CBC sports coverage for National Post business coverage -- an interesting and relatively inexpensive way for both to reach wider audiences. We hadn't realized what a widespread trend such sharing arrangements were.

A story on MediaDailyNews reports that The Washington Post and Bloomberg News have agreed to launch a new service that posts about 120 stories a day. The Post gets access to Bloomberg's 300,000 subscribers to its financial news network and Bloomberg gets access to 1 million print subscribers and 8 million unique visitors a month.

Other recent news sharing, according to the story:

• The website Politico signed up 67 newspapers with which to share political news content and ad revenue;
• The Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun have announced a local content-sharing deal;
• CNN is pitching newspapers on CNN Wire, a low-cost content alternative to the Associated Press;
• Five New York and New Jersey newspapers, including the New York Daily News, have created a news-sharing pact called the Northeast Consortium;
  
• Four Tennessee newspapers did the same;
• McClatchy Co. is sharing foreign news with the Christian Science Monitor; and
• 8 Ohio newspapers formed their own news-sharing service