Mike Reed Sets Goals for New Gannett

the grocery ads are soon to disappear. Circulars were popular in the pre-internet age because 35% or so of homes in the market. A paper was the only way to hit that audience. Now papers hit five percent or so of homes. The audiences are getting to small for advertisers to chase.

 

Point taken ... but some rural weeklies are an exception ... for now.

 

Seems Gannett's dailies are going the way of its current weeklies -- thin, mailed and chock full of local ads for landscapers, plumbers, etc...at least one grocery chain in my area has stopped printing weekly circulars; you can see the flyer on its website and "clip" coupons to your loyalty card before you go to the store.

 

There were rumors about Gannett dropping the AP when I was still working there, and I left Gannett eight years ago. Surprised it took them this long.

 

My 75-year-old Dad gets three papers delivered...and proudly notes how he searches for coupons via the local supermarket apps he has on his phone. He does drive by every week to pick up a circular out of habit, but if those disappeared tomorrow he'd be fine.

 

If I recall correctly, the notice period for AP is something like two years. So this switch was likely thrown a while ago.

I actually remember Scripps talking about dropping AP at one point but backed away because the sports agate package still had value. In a world of mail delivery and non-daily publication, national sports agate is way less of a thing. That was probably the tipping point.

 

Gannett says it will “reinvest” the money in newsrooms.

JFC. Do people still believe that absolutely insulting bullshit?

 

Do the other papers get delivered on the "correct" day (same day listed on the masthead, folios, etc.)?

If so, that's not as bad as I thought. I was thinking Monday papers being delivered on Wednesday, etc.

 

Given the problems newspapers are having finding delivery help the post office is more reliable. I subscribed to a suburban daily and it appeared every day in my mailbox. Gannett, on the other hand, once bragged on a conference call that they had increased the daily delivery rate on their papers from 86% to 90%.

 

Nearly every major chain has an app now. All the coupons in the ad.

 

My grandmother lived on a lake in rural Michigan that was basically equidistant from three small towns with grocery stores. She used to pass her time taking the coupons fand driving from town to town to do her grocery shopping.

 

It’s a trap because they don’t have newsrooms, they have Local Information Centers. Hence, they ain’t investing in anything except corporate bonuses.

I still shake my head when I recall my then-Executive Editor at the Gannett paper I was at, who was a well-liked and well-respected journalist, call a meeting and announce that we no longer work in a newsroom; we work for an information center.

I still wonder if she believed the bullshit she was saying.