PBJ: If the newspaper isn't delivered daily, why not stop printing daily?Heading off new print competition is another factor.
Anderson: We still have a large single-copy audience and wish to continue to serve that audience without the expense of home delivery on those three days.
__________
 |
| Oregonian digital edition |
The Oregonian explains:
"The Oregonian will continue to be published daily and sold at outlets in the Portland metropolitan area and elsewhere in the state and southwestern Washington. Home delivery will be Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, and include the Saturday edition as a bonus."Willamette Week (which broke the news of the impending change last Friday):
"The Oregonian confirmed this morning that the paper will reduce print delivery to three days a week.Interesting that the Oregonian business model is based on a seven day print edition to be sold at outlets but not to home subscribers. It doesn't seem likely that their money hemorrhage is coming just from home delivery costs, so the home delivery cut is a head scratcher if they are continuing to produce a daily print edition.
"Publisher N. Christian Anderson III informed staff just before 10 am that the paper will continue to publish seven days a week, but will only offer home delivery on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, with the Saturday edition apparently delivered with Sunday papers. He also announced that newsroom layoffs are beginning immediately.
"Anderson told staff this morning that the company will inform them by Friday morning whether they are being laid off.
"'The newsroom was just told there will be 'significant layoffs,' w/some new hiring for digital,' reporter Anna Griffin wrote on Twitter at 10:51 am. 'Somebody open the bar tab.'
"Staffers were told they could be offered severance or take new jobs at a recently formed company The Oregonian Publishing Co.
"Anderson also told the staffers the paper will move out of its iconic downtown building on Southwest Broadway to new offices."
It would make more sense to completely cut out three print days than just stop home delivery on those days. The actual physical materials and process of printing the paper is likely to be 1/5th or more of the cost of getting the paper out in a print format. But, if you are going to publish anyway, there is the loss that comes per unit with limited production of an edition rather than mass production.
Along with cutting home deliveries nearly in half, the Advance Central Services owners are significantly cutting employees. So salaries and employee benefits seems the real savings the Oregonian owners are going for now.
Another thing that doesn't add up is that though they are cutting staff they plan to expand the content of their Wednesday, Friday and Sunday editions.
"The Wednesday, Friday and Sunday editions will be enhanced with more content than current editions while the Saturday newspaper will have news and a strong emphasis on sports content, along with classified advertising."Quality content expansion is not likely when you're significantly cutting staff. Nor does it seem likely that "enhanced" content will attract new subscribers when the Oregonian is cutting down on print circulation (via 40% less home delivery).
There's a lot here that doesn't add up.
5 comments:
It's sad. Watching the swirling is fascinating, but really pointless. I, and many others, would subscribe were they to kill the lefty bias and write about the foundations of what is true and accurate information.
I guess being a crony to all this just doesn't pay. Or pay, well enough.
.
Anna's comment re: bar tab was pretty glib, especially since most staffers there didn't get the word until this morning as to whether or not they'll be retained.
Along with cutting home deliveries nearly in half, the Advance Central Services owners are significantly cutting employees. So salaries and employee benefits seems the real savings the Oregonian owners are going for now.
Certainly, they're not getting a bump in ads; that revenue was already tanking and can only be expected to decrease further due to alienation of subscribers. For a while there, on their OLive site, it seemed like every third post was from someone saying they were going to cancel. The folks from Advance slowed that to a trickle - by deleting comments.
They really know how to build a loyal following....
The whole change is bizarre. Advance Publications has not shown themselves to be adept at growing a digital brand. Not only that, as you note Max, they continue to alienate previous print subscribers.
It will be interesting to see the Alliance for Audited Media report for this coming September. Though it will cover just before the big change October 1st, there should be some sort of a trend already in place.
OG, for some reason this didn't show up in the comments, but came through my e-mail. So, I'm posting it.
-----
It's sad. Watching the swirling is fascinating, but really pointless. I, and many others, would subscribe were they to kill the lefty bias and write about the foundations of what is true and accurate information.
I guess being a crony to all this just doesn't pay. Or pay, well enough.
Posted by OregonGuy to Terrance this is stupid stuff at 6/21/2013 10:03 AM
It is sad, OG. In putting personal bias first, they have not only lost the 35% of self-identified conservatives in Oregon [cf. Jeff Mapes: http://blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2011/02/gallup_oregon_washington_among.html], but competence in their core professional duty of reporting "true and accurate information".
How self destructive is it that knowing that something like 10% more of their possible audience is conservative rather than liberal, they still cling to liberal concerns and talking points and set traps for and trash conservatives?
Post a Comment