Wednesday 17 March 2010

Sobering stats?

Updated re Belleville, Niagara

It is St. Patrick's Day and the 2009 NADbank newspaper readership stats have just been released.

The key wording in one Newspaper Audience Databank recap is print readership during 2009 was "stable." So much for the doomsday folks who have been prematurely holding wakes for print media.

Well, stable for some newspapers, like the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail. A Toronto Star story says the Toronto Sun's weekday readership "plunged 21.5 per cent to 372,300" and the National Post "fell 13.5 per cent to 167,800."

So the spin has begun. Will Sun Media's spin on readership figures be sobering? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Metro Canada is euphoric.

As is the Calgary Herald.

And the Globe and Mail.

The Toronto Star is also upbeat.

We await Sun Media spin.

First in, the Orillia Packet & Times

Calgary Sun

Ottawa Sun

Edmonton Sun

Belleville Intelligencer

Niagara Falls Review

4 comments:

  1. While the "read yesterday" number has slipped from 666,000 readers to less than 570,000 readers, the M-F Sun bears the impact of management goneby. Cost cutting, controlled circulation, reduced bulk and a "hang onto EBITDA at any cost so we all get our bonuses" mentality prospers.

    It's almost as though we've forgotten that we're in the newspaper business!! It's almost as though we've forgotten that we do indeed have a future as a print/online source of news and information. Investment is needed - just like water in a garden....not that I'm a gardener.

    Apparently, readership for Saturday and Sunday is not as significantly impacted - there's not much leadership at 333 King Street as the focus is on consolidating all employees into a corner of the building - we'll wait things out and see what the next Nadbank numbers reveal.

    "Hope" is a business plan that only works in the Catholic church!

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  2. The spin will be "Who cares about readership stats (or morale, or awards, or our proud history) - look how much money we save when we keep restructuring people!!" Enjoy your eggs, shareholders ... just know that PKP killed the golden goose.

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  3. OttSun spinning big increases. How credible is NADBank? What is the methodology?
    http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/03/17/13268321.html

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  4. Congrats PKP, another job well done, a drop of 21.5% is more than a statistical error, perhaps cutting too many things from content, promotions and people?

    Maybe you are saving money from all the restructured people, but you are not going to be making more from your advertisers who will bail by putting their ads in papers that are actually growing (Star, Metro, Globe and Mail).

    PKP should have studied the Dofasco slogan from the 1970's onwards and what it meant as a corporation "Our product is steel. Our strength is people."

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