When newspapers as big as the Dallas Morning Snooze and the Austin American Stateless (give me more time, I'll create a better riff) are running half-page house ads to tout a "master couponing special" they're sponsoring, you know they're struggling.
First, Americans use less than 1 percent of the coupons we're bombarded with. That's probably because of other factors, like more and more coupons requiring the purchase of multiple products.
This long listicle also notes that mobile couponing is on the rise. How much of that is NOT from mobile-formatted e-editions, or even from mobile editions of a newspaper's website in general is anybody's guess, but let's just say "a lot." Listicle point No. 17 — and this is from 2009, the Neolithic Era of mobile devices — says that mobile plus computer coupons were already then past traditional print ones. A 2014 listicle says print coupon usage has declined by 15 percentage points since just 2010.
In other words, the Snooze and Stateless are probably, once again, pursuing something about ... 5 years too late? (Hey, at least the Stateless has a paywall!) Or paying a third-party consultant to teach people how to use Groupon and such as much as newspaper coupons — unless you've put a gag order on the presenter.
That said, if Felix Salmon is right about how legacy print's bromance with Facebook will start backfiring this year, maybe legacy print's going to start getting more desperate.
Note to Dallas: It's called a paywall, before you do desperate stuff like this.
Note to Austin: If you can't sell ads above 15 percent of newshole on a TUESDAY, not just a Monday, it's called cutting pages in print.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Tuesday, April 07, 2015
Two years before the masthead, part 2
That's what I meant to title my original piece, instead of "Two Years a Publisher," with a hat tip to Richard Henry Dana.
But, I'll start that now.
A publishers' meeting in a small newspaper group.
An advance assignment of "10 challenges you face."
Look, we're small town papers. We probably don't have a list of 10. In a small town paper, you face the challenges of:
1. Postal Service getting crappier by the day, especially if you're in a definitely rural area; in turn, old folks born here but now moved away eventually get frustrated and stop subscriptions.
2. Old folks dying, and thus auto-stopping subscriptions.
3. Small towns still recovering from the Great Recession more slowly than cities.
3A. Double this if you're in a town or county with a static, even declining, population.
Asking for a full list of 10 almost sounds like an invitation to publishers to start self-flagellating. Because, anything below this, with the exception of "making sure my office manager/bookkeeper is doing her job," is small potatoes.
Maybe I'll find out differently at the actual conference. Maybe I'll be more optimistic after I get back.
And, maybe I'll vote Republican in 2016.
Re-reading the assignment sheet, I can include editorial as well as publishing issues, and it's called "goals," not "challenges." Maybe I'll think New Agey bright thoughts.
But, I'll start that now.
A publishers' meeting in a small newspaper group.
An advance assignment of "10 challenges you face."
Look, we're small town papers. We probably don't have a list of 10. In a small town paper, you face the challenges of:
1. Postal Service getting crappier by the day, especially if you're in a definitely rural area; in turn, old folks born here but now moved away eventually get frustrated and stop subscriptions.
2. Old folks dying, and thus auto-stopping subscriptions.
3. Small towns still recovering from the Great Recession more slowly than cities.
3A. Double this if you're in a town or county with a static, even declining, population.
Asking for a full list of 10 almost sounds like an invitation to publishers to start self-flagellating. Because, anything below this, with the exception of "making sure my office manager/bookkeeper is doing her job," is small potatoes.
Maybe I'll find out differently at the actual conference. Maybe I'll be more optimistic after I get back.
And, maybe I'll vote Republican in 2016.
Re-reading the assignment sheet, I can include editorial as well as publishing issues, and it's called "goals," not "challenges." Maybe I'll think New Agey bright thoughts.
Thursday, April 02, 2015
Is the Austin American Statesman even more dying?
The latest sign in the decline of journalism? The Austin American Statesman offered $19.99 full-year online subscriptions yesterday as a real non-fools AprilFools presentation. Either some people "didn't get it," or Cox corporate has the Statesman under pressure for X number of new subscribers, because they're running it again today. And also did so on Friday, April 3.
Or maybe they're "counting" on people missing the apparent auto-renew of $8.99/month after that 1 year, per the link I clicked. Or else, since it's Cox of cable fame, they make you walk through hell to cancel the auto-renew.
That said, if I were a current subscriber and could switch to this, I would.
And then, I'd quit after a year until I got another special offer.
I mean, it's one thing for a biweekly magazine like High Country News to offer $12/year digital subscription (without — I think — auto-renew) but this is different.
If other people, see above, thought like me, the Statesman would be getting to digital only whether it's ready for it or not.
Or maybe they're "counting" on people missing the apparent auto-renew of $8.99/month after that 1 year, per the link I clicked. Or else, since it's Cox of cable fame, they make you walk through hell to cancel the auto-renew.
That said, if I were a current subscriber and could switch to this, I would.
And then, I'd quit after a year until I got another special offer.
I mean, it's one thing for a biweekly magazine like High Country News to offer $12/year digital subscription (without — I think — auto-renew) but this is different.
If other people, see above, thought like me, the Statesman would be getting to digital only whether it's ready for it or not.
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