Gannett Nov. Revenue Drops 2.1% (Other MSM sinking, too)

Editor and Publisher ^ | 12/8/05 | Associated Press

[HonduGOP]

Gannett Nov. Revenue Drops 2.1%

Published: December 08, 2005 10:20 AM ET

MCLEAN, Va. (AP) Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper publisher and owner of several television stations, said Thursday that revenue fell 2.1% during November compared to last year, as lower advertising demand in its broadcasting group and British newspapers hurt results.

At USA Today, ad revenue dropped 7.7%, as the number of paid ad pages fell to 345 from 412.

Gannett said November revenue fell to $656.6 million from $670.9 million on a pro forma basis, which assumes that all properties the company owned were owned in both periods.

The publisher of USA Today, the largest U.S. newspaper, said newspaper ad revenue in November declined 3.3% from 2004.

Local ad revenue fell 2.7%, classified ad revenue fell 1.8% and national ad revenue fell 8.3% on a pro forma basis, the company said.

The company said broadcasting revenue dropped 3.2% during the month.

[Recovering_Democrat]

[billhilly]

Who says there's no good news?

[Boundless]

>> Although lib print is failing faster than conservative
>> and non-political print, all print media is failing.

> Is that true?? I never see the NWP, Wash-Times,
> or WSJ cited in these stories. What are their numbers?

Newspaper Circulation Continues Decline, Forcing Tough Decisions

The Wash Times may actually be up slightly, but it's
tough going, and the survivors are going to have to
figure out how to make a buck on the web. I just had
a non-political music magazine tell me the current
issue was their final print issue. Most of the mags I
used to subscribe to no longer exist.

[TYVets]

My local (leftist) newspaper is a Gannett rag and after 20 years I stopped subscribing about 5 years ago.

My local (leftist) newspaper is a Gannett rag and after 30 years I stopped subscribing about 5 years ago.

[TYVets]

,,,,national ad revenue fell 8.3% on a pro forma basis, the company said.

I am deeply saded.

[Prost1]

More writers are taking "volunatary" leave....

[cynicom]

The people that have owned and operated MSM for a hundred years have lost their clout to the Internet. One does not have to be too observant to see that their minions have slowly but surely infiltrated the newest free electronic communication media.

[oh8eleven]

After reading the morning paper for decades, especially the sports page, it took awhile to get over. Thank algore God for the Internet.

[SamAdams76]

Meanwhile ad revenues are soaring for podcasts, internet search engines, blogs and other forms of alternative media where information can be found unfiltered and free of media bias.

The mainstream media gatekeepers of today remind me of that scene in Blazing Saddles where they try to put a tollbooth in the middle of the desert.

[sgtyork]

F*** Ken Paulson

[festus]

Additionally, the company explained it was not going to give estimates for 2006,

Send the request for info to the news room. I'm sure they could make something up ......

[festus]

a retreat with honor (or whatever today's DNC FAX euphemism is).

I believe the term on this weeks fax is "Advancing to the Rear" or alternately "Charging past the rear flank."

[GB]

OK, let me add a little perspective. I've worked for a newspaper for nearly 30 years. I've survived in the business as an unrepentant, unashamed and unhidden conservative. I've also survived in the business working for an employer that is owned by an entity that would certainly be considered by some folks here as "the liberal media." (Trust me, though we get no faxes or emails from the DNC or corporate telling us what to print ... in fact, we have a moderate to conservative editorial page and I personally get more email from RNC/GOP/conservative sources).

The problem here is that newspapers, and the mainstream media, simply will not adapt to the changing conditions, to the advent of electronic media, the Internet, etc. They're all trying to dabble in it, but IMHO they don't have a clue of what they're doing, I think both as far as editorial content and advertising sales, they treat it like a useless nuisance or passing fad that will eventually disappear and they can go back to the way things used to be. Of course that isn't going to happen.

I do not think newspapers will ever disappear. But they're not ever going to have the relevance they did for years unless they now and forevermore forget about "the way things used to be" and concentrate on the way things are now, and start offering a product that will appeal to today's consumer. Which means, offering people what they want and what they can't get anywhere else ... and IMHO there are still things, especially on the local level, that newspapers can offer that you can't get anywhere else ... instead of what they want to offer or what they think people ought to have. And to me, that's a bigger problem than bias, an attitude that, "we know best and we're going to give you what we think you ought to have, and if you don't want or like it you're nothing but ignorant Philistines."

For a business populated with liberals ... I'm not going to deny that the bias exists, but I've said here before that my experience is that it's not so much a philosophical left/right bias as it is a bias against all sources of authority ... it's awfully stuck in the mud as far as the way it does things.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Gannett versus the DJI for the past year (down 28% versus the DJ average):