Mike Reed Sets Goals for New Gannett

Will be interesting to watch newsprint prices. Rising costs and supply chain issues may bump into reduced demand.

 

I went to the article. It said nothing about reducing subscription prices because a subscriber will only get a hard copy paper six days a week, rather than seven. So this is effectively a price increase, which will cause more print subscribers to drop

At the upper right had corner there is an offer for six months for a dollar for digital. If they are offering those kind of promotional offers I don't think that the e-edition is going particularly well either.

My conclusion from this is that Gannett is deep trouble.

 

Any time you see "increased need to focus on property-level performance in order to achieve our financial objectives" it translates as there will be blood.

 

Sounds like I retired just in time.

 

Retiring your Saturday edition sounds like insanity in the fall in Texas. But in this day and age of webcasting high school football games and with 2 o'clock deadlines for print, it makes sense.

 

I remember when we started to not replate for games in Dallas, and I thought it was a travesty to send people to the website instead of giving it to them through the vehicle for which they paid. That seems so quaint now.

 

We're still teaching (and learning) the new mindset of digital first. Local mid-major college especially, we're doing 10-15 inch quickie gamers as soon as the game ends for web only and, takeaways/analysis for print 2 days later. Attacking that in preps, too. 10-15" quickie web only for the "Game of the Night" and then takeaways for Sunday print. 2 other games covered by stringers will be web only and absorbed into a local agate/roundup for Sunday print.

 

At least here in the Houston metro areas, it seems like some specialty publications have filled the void. The Chronicle is also a Hearst paper, and still puts a lot of work into it. Plus, even though it's high school and the quality of the booth can vary wildly, Texan Live means you can just watch the game whenever you want.

 

The thinnest papers are Saturday and Monday but I can't see ending Monday print editions because of heavy Sunday sports action especially during football season.

 

They aren't ending the print editions. They are making them e-edition for subscribers, they just won't be circulated to homes or newsstands

 

I think Tuesday's are about as thin as Monday's. I think might be next.

 

It will be interesting to see how many calls Gannett papers get from oldsters who can't/won't look at the online e-editions.

My previous shop cut the Monday print edition last summer but still laid out the paper for the e-edition, which was made available (Monday only) for free, subscribers or not. The newsroom and circulation departments were all briefed ... when people call, refer them to the free e-edition. Tell them how to open the pages on their computers, tablets or phones.

It wasn't more than two weeks before we were reprinting NASCAR and golf agate due to angry callers. Then the A1 stories basically were repackaged for the Tuesday paper's local section cover, because so many people never saw them. And when a family decided to run an obit on Monday, not knowing there was no print edition (apparently they had moved away), they went absolutely ballistic on our circulation department, managing editor and publisher.