When I'm in the library in the big city, or nearest thing to one that's nearby, I like scanning metropolitan dailies to see just how they're faring on ad inches.
And, the Tuesday, Aug. 26 Austin American Statesman?
Not faring well at all.
Now, Tuesday's not a great day, but, it's not quite as slow as Monday.
But 12 percent? Four pages worth of paid ads in a 50-page paper? That's sad, and ugly.
(One week later, they were up to a full 15.5 percent for Tuesday, Sept.
3. That said, the paper had been cut to 32 pages. And, some of the paid
ads were tax-and-budget season legals.)
Add to it that, as fluff, the Statesman's copy staff (which aren't even in Austin, as all but the sports pages are built at a sister Cox paper, the Dayton Daily News) had two pages worth of house ads. That many house ads, compared to that few of paid ads, stand out like a sore thumb.
