A stalwart within Texas community papers shut its doors in July, saying that it not only wasn't making enough money, but saying it wasn't making money period.
The Leader had been in the hands of the Hamilton family for decades, so this is kind of a stunner. Long time ad salesperson, and I believe on editorial staff before that, Kari Collins reminisces.
At the same time, maybe not.
I don't know what their ad numbers were like, but their circulation had been declining for years. COVID and related issues were just the final nail in the coffin.
Pre-2010, per TPA annuals that I've got in my office, there had been a moderate decline from the 1990s, but nothing I'd call traumatic. About 400 customers over 15 years. Things then stabilized for the next feew years.
But, another decline hit. They lost 300 more in the next three years, between 2013-2016,
However, their circulation then went back to the previous pattern and held steady until 2019, or supposedly. Listing the exact same circ in 2016 and 2019 has me wondering. EXACT same.
Anyway, from there, it fell off a cliff. The 1,636 of 2016 and possibly 2019 was under 1,000 in 2021. That in turn dropped another 100 over the next year.
Assuming 2019 circ numbers aren't correct, I don't know how much of the 2019-21 fall was COVID-related and how much was not. I'd like to get more granular, but I don't have a 2020 directory and I can't find one online.
At the same time, since their last e-dition is not paywalled? Even if all obits on the back page are paid, they still have about 1 3/4 pages of adhole. If they're not paid, we're at barely 1 1/2. Even throwing out the non-insert local grocery store ad in the larger of my two weeklies, and since all obits are free other than a surcharge on massive ones, I still average about 2 1/4 pages a week in a smaller community.
The population has held flat over the last 20 years, which is not fantastic, but not horrible.
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