Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Blog - Financials

Will Murdoch's paywall strategy 'work'?

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:53:42 -0600

It is still unclear whether News International's paywall for The Times' and Sunday Times' is "working," as the paywall is just two months old, and the websites have not yet made statistics public.

In the Independent today, the tagline for Ian Burrell's article on Rupert Murdoch's much discussed paywall states: "advertisers don't like it. Analysts are unconvinced. The paywall at News International may not be winning many fans, but the man behind it is determined to keep it standing." But François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at the University of Central Lancashire's School of Journalism, Media and Communication in the United Kingdom, and also an SFN research partner, crunched the numbers, and the result is that the paywalls may be doing better than most people think. A lot better.

Independent News & Media returns to profit

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:55:15 -0600

Independent News and Media's newspapers have returned to pre-tax profits after selling loss-making titles, The Irish Times reported today. Revenues for the first half of the year reached €656.5 million, up 7.8 percent, as operating profit increased 29.2 percent, to €94.6 million. Earnings before taxes, amortisation and depreciation were up 26.1 percent, to €115.6 million.

The Ireland-based INM sold its UK Independent and Independent on Sunday titles in April, and also sold its remaining share in India-based Jagran Prakashan Limited media group, lowering its net debt by €360.1 million in the period from June 2009 to June 2010. INM reported pre-tax losses of €31 million for the year of 2009, according to MediaGuardian.

Dailies' newsstand sales decline in the UK

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:43:53 -0600

British newsagents are selling 14 percent less newspapers than they were a decade ago and sales revenues are expected to continue decreasing by 44 percent in the next five years, according to research by Mintel, paidContent reported yesterday.

But despite this decline, newsagents' income has increased since 1999 by 10 percent, to £26.8 billion. The reason is a sales boost of other goods such as magazines, cards and cigarettes, the Press Gazette informed.

Graph: paidContent

VSS: Newspaper industry to stabilise, then grow in 2014

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:55:12 -0600

The declines in newspaper spending are expected to stabilise in 2013, and the industry is slated for growth in 2014, according to forecasts by Veronis Suhler Stevenson Communications Industry, a private equity firm specialising in media business and marketing services for the year 2004-2014, Editor & Publisher reported.

As print circulations decline, retail, national and classified advertisers will continue to invest interests in harnessing the potential reach of digital media platforms "to target audiences and improve return on investment." The report further stated that "weekly newspapers are no longer insulated from the migration of users and advertisers to the Web," and total industry spending is expected to fall by 9.5 percent this year, including decline in dailies by 10.6 percent, weeklies by 7.1 percent and digital platforms by 1.1 percent.

Content farms enjoying success on Google News

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:15:28 -0600

Content farms have come under more criticism for their lower quality articles that are tailored to what people are searching for and produced by low-paid freelancers, as they continue to produce vast amounts of content and dominate online search results with their advanced use of SEO.

Scott Rosenburg, cofounder of Salon, lamented the appearance of an Associated Content article as the top recommendation following one of his Google searches. Looking to find out more about the resignation of Dr Laura Schlessinger from her radio show over a racial slur, he entered 'dr. laura n-word' into Google. The Associated Content story came up first in the Google News results, followed by one from the Washington Post and then one from Media Matters for America, a blog.

For more on this story, visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

APN News & Media upbeat despite underwhelming interim result

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:33:49 -0600

APN News & Media is upbeat for improving advertising markets, despite an underwhelming half-year result, The Australian reported.

APN News & Media saw its shares close 9 percent lower after it posted net profit of AU$40 million for the first half of the year.

Social discounting websites make readers excited about a good deal

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:32:53 -0600

The combination of a weak economy and the digital age makes selling newspapers increasingly difficult; however, innovative solutions can leverage the situation. Magazines and newspapers are using social discounting websites such as Groupon and Crowdity to rein in new subscriptions.

The principles of the discount sites are simple. Newspapers offer their subscriptions at a largely discounted price, but the deal only goes through if a minimum number of people subscribe. Last month when the Chicago Tribune used Groupon, they offered their one-year subscription for US$13, a 75% discount from the full price of $51. They required that 200 people subscribe to offer the deal. The final number of subscriptions was 7,494. Groupon, however, does take a 50% cut of the profit from the subscriptions.

For more on this story, visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

Google buys social payment provider Jambool

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:20:44 -0600

Google has bought online social payment start-up Jambool, a next step past search and into the realm of "using personal relationships as the basis to find and share online content," the San Jose Mercury News reported today.

TechCrunch first reported the buy last week, noting that Jambool's Social Gold payment product gives developers the tools they need to "build payments directly into their games and other applications." The price of the buy wasn't released by either company, but sources told TechCrunch it was around US$70 million, which includes about $20 million in earnouts. The buyout was announced Friday.

NY Times Co. trials paywall

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:32:02 -0600

The New York Times Co. is testing out its paywall strategy, but not on its flagship newspaper's website. Rather, the company has set up a metered paywall on the website of its Worcester, Massachusetts newspaper, the Telegram & Gazette, The Times announced yesterday.

Beginning today, the daily will allow readers to view 10 local news articles each month for free. After that threshold has been reached, they will be offered several different online subscription options, from a US$14.95 monthly pass, to a $1 day pass.

Knight Foundation discusses non-profit ventures

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:13:46 -0600

In a publication made available online yesterday, the Knight Foundation has detailed possible non-profit local and regional news ventures.

Saving traditional news organisations cannot be helped by the non-profit model; instead, creating and strengthening "informed communities and local information ecosystems, of which journalism is a necessary component" is the type of venture that non-profits can possibly be of help with, the U.S.-based organisation states, the foundation notes. The publication is based on an April 26 meeting sponsored by the Knight Foundation and co-hosted by the Texas Tribune, Voice of San Diego and Knight Chair in Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin.

E.W. Scripps reports 2Q profit gain

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:27:36 -0600

The E.W. Scripps Co. Monday reported its second-quarter revenue and net income up, and said its trends are expected to improve through the second half of the year, according to the Associated Press article posted on Business Week.

The Cincinnati-based company's net income reached $99.5 million, or $1.56 per share, in the second quarter, up from $2.3 million, or 4 cents per share, year-over-year, Market Watch reported.

Washington Post profits up; shares drop on education unit worries

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:05:25 -0600

The Washington Post Co. reported its second-quarter net income up to $91.9 million, from $12.2 million year-over-year. Continuing-operations income totaled $94.2 million, up from $21.2 million in the same period in 2009, Media Bistro reported.

The company added that its biggest business, the Kaplan test-prep and education services segment, could be hurt by the proposed rule changes at the U.S. Department of Education.

Irish media group sells stake in Jagran Prakashan

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:00:12 -0600

Independent News and Media is withdrawing from India's newspaper market after selling its remaining 5.7 percent stake in Jagran Prakashan Limited, owner of the Dainik Jagran daily, for €32m (£26.5m), Media Week reported yesterday.

The Ireland-based publisher, which bought 26 percent of the shares in 2005 for €28.5 million, will use the money to pay off its bank loans, The Irish Times informed. The company started selling its stake a year ago and, overall, has received €96m (£79.6m).

News Corp. reverses loss

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 13:48:23 -0600

News Corp. yesterday announced it turned a profit in the fourth quarter, compared to a loss the same time last year, The Associated Press reported.

The media conglomerate's finances were helped by the sale of its Bulgarian television station and a drop in restructuring charges. However, its profits were down about US$16 million, to $932 million, due to lower profits at its Sky Italia satellite TV unit and movie studio. MySpace, owned by News Corp., also saw revenue continue to fall. Revenue in the three months ending June 30, meanwhile, were up 6 percent, to $8.11 billion.

West Australian Newspapers yearly profits rise

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:52:30 -0600

West Australian Newspapers Holdings reported a 10.3 percent increase in full-year profit due to a modest market recovery, according to The Australian Business Journal.

However, the publisher was cautious about that its new financial year, as uncertainty about the federal government's planned tax on resources companies and the upcoming federal election's drag on advertising demand, the Australian reported.