Making the Leap Beyond 'Newspaper Companies'
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Newspaper Next 2.0 Making the Leap Beyond ‘Newspaper Companies’ February 2008 PRinciPAL AUTHOR AND EDITOR INTRODUCTION AND EXecUTIVE SUmmARY ..................................................................1 Stephen T. Gray SecTION 1: WHAT CAN newsPAPER COMPAnies becOme? ........................................4 Managing Director, Newspaper Next 1. What’s happening now .................................................................................................. 4 Steve Gray was appointed managing director of Newspaper 2. Seeing beyond newspaper companies ..........................................................................6 Next at its inception in September 2005, and led the 3. Pursuing mega-jobs ................................................................................................... 10 project team during the original development phase. Upon CONTENTS SecTION 2: THE N2 CAsebOOK .....................................................................................20 completion of the project’s original report and recommen- Part 1: The new products ...........................................................................................21 2 dations in September 2006, he taught the N approach in Key takeaways ............................................................................................................... 22 dozens of workshops and presentations in the U.S., Canada Summing up ...................................................................................................................26 and overseas, and worked with large and small newspaper companies as they adopted N2. Case Studies: 1) 209Vibe.com – music and entertainment Web site ................................................. 27 Prior to joining the API project, he was managing publisher 2) 513Moms.com/937Moms.com – mom community Web sites .................................29 of The Christian Science Monitor in Boston for seven 3) The Beachcomber – free summer beachfront daily .................................................31 years, leading implementation of numerous new online, 4) Cape Cod Dining – annual dining guide and Web site .............................................33 syndication, partnership and multi-media strategies that 5) Dayton B2B – business magazine, Web site, emails ............................................... 35 introduced the Monitor to millions of new readers, viewers 6) DeliveringQC.com – coupon and gift certificate Web site ........................................37 and listeners. 7) Enjoy – in-paper weekly women’s magazine ...........................................................40 Previously he was president and CEO of the family-owned 8) The Gateway – free weekly/shopper for fringe markets .......................................... 42 Monroe Publishing Co. in Monroe, Mich., and editor of The 9) Huntsville R&D Report – Magazine for high-tech engineers ...................................44 Monroe Evening News. He led the company’s conversion to 10) Idahoiz.com – Bi-annual newcomer guide and Web site .........................................46 employee ownership and the creation of an award-winning 11) MainePets.com – pet-owners Web site ...................................................................48 culture of open management and employee involvement. 12) MonroeTalks.com – community discussion Web site ...............................................49 He also led the diversification of the company’s business 13) MyCape.com – hyperlocal Web sites for 16 communities ........................................51 model through numerous new publications, products and 14) Orange – upscale regional magazine ......................................................................54 services, and won awards for reporting, editorials and col- 15) Oregon Outdoors – outdoors magazine, Web site, weekly insert .............................56 umns, including the Morgan O’Leary Award for Excellence 16) Padres – parenting magazine for Latinos ...............................................................58 in Political Reporting. 17) Pocono Record – newsroom transformation project ...............................................60 18) Quality Consignments – One-stop resale service and store ....................................64 He is a former president of Inland Press Association, the 19) RaisingMaine.com – parents’ Web site and magazine ............................................66 Michigan Press Association and the Michigan Associated 20) SeacoastParentsConnect.com – parents’ community Web site ..............................68 Press Editorial Association. He holds a bachelor’s degree 21) Southcoast247.com PRINT – reverse-published entertainment guide ....................70 in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School 22) Swocol.com – Web site for Dayton-area college students ....................................... 72 of Journalism. 23) TribLocal – hyperlocal community sites and weeklies ............................................ 74 24) Varsity845.com – regional high school sports Web site .......................................... 76 Part 2: How companies are making innovation happen ...........................................78 Key takeaways ............................................................................................................... 78 1) Blethen Maine Newspapers ....................................................................................80 2) Cape Cod Media Group ............................................................................................81 3) Chicago Tribune ......................................................................................................83 4) Cox Ohio Publishing ................................................................................................. 85 5) Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. ...................................................................................... 87 6) Seacoast Media Group ............................................................................................88 7) Seattle Times ..........................................................................................................90 SecTION 3: MAXimiZinG Online ReVenUE ................................................................92 1. The trends and the implications ................................................................................. 92 2. Sales and revenue expectations .................................................................................99 3. Selected ‘plays’ for online initiatives ..........................................................................99 IntRODUctIon AND EXecUTIVE SUMMARY As 2008 begins, newspaper companies continue to strive SectIon 1 addresses the need for a new vision of what a for solutions that will reverse continuing declines in circula- newspaper company can and must become. With the old tion, readership, advertising, profits and, for publicly-held model eroding, and with intense competition from other companies, share prices. Inside and outside the industry, the contenders, leaders in this industry need new models they question reverberates: What is the future of newspapers and can both see and articulate as they guide and inspire change newspaper companies? in their organizations. In this report, the American Press Institute’s Newspaper Next The best news is that opportunities in newspaper markets project builds on its original work, offering additional stra- abound. But to capitalize on them, a newspaper company tegic concepts and practical guidance to help the industry must reach far beyond the limits of newspapers and news, make the leap beyond “newspaper companies” to a brighter becoming what this report describes as a “local information future. and connection utility.” Hence the title of this report: Making the Leap Beyond “Newspaper Companies”. API launched Newspaper Next in September 2005 as a year- long research project to discover pragmatic and practicable Section 1 introduces several key ideas: ways for newspaper companies to create new growth. In ■ The “whole-market” concept, in which a newspaper 2 September 2006, the N project delivered its findings to the company strives to touch and connect every consumer industry – an innovation toolkit titled Blueprint for Transfor- and serve every business – not just the consumers who mation. read news and the businesses that want and can afford In the year that followed, Newspaper Next went on the road, mass-reach advertising. conducting scores of public and private workshops to train ■ The jobs we want to own in each market: For consum- 2 newspaper executives and managers in using the N tools, ers, the industry should strive to fulfill the job of “Help concepts and processes. More than 4,000 individuals repre- me know or do whatever it takes to live here.” For busi- senting hundreds of newspaper companies attended all-day nesses, the goal is to fulfill the job of “Help me connect 2 N workshops, and thousands more attended press associa- with anyone who lives here.” tion presentations or downloaded the free N2 report from www.newspapernext.org. Newspaper companies across ■ The strategic pursuit of “mega-jobs” among consumers North America and beyond began using the N2 approach to and businesses. These are jobs that virtually every con- create new products and improve existing ones. sumer, regardless of demographic, wants to get done, and jobs that virtually every business, regardless of size, By all signs, Newspaper Next itself