AAN News
As Belts Tighten, Ad Execs Are Considering Fewer Outletsnew
Ad salespeople are expected to have to face increased competition for a dwindling number of media slots being planned by ad executives, according to a new report by Advertiser Perceptions Inc. "The study finds that the number of media brands being 'considered' by advertisers and agencies has declined precipitously, meaning individual media outlets will be facing their toughest competition ever when vying for a slice of what are also likely to be smaller advertising pies," Media Daily News reports. The two mediums facing the greatest reduction in consideration slots? Online and print, respectively.
Media Daily News |
10-01-2008 10:20 am |
Industry News
South Carolina Alt-Weekly Predicts Prez Election with Pint Glass Sales
Columbia Free Times |
10-01-2008 11:31 am |
Industry News
2004 Village Voice Cover Makes Cameo on HBO Vampire Seriesnew
The New York Observer |
10-01-2008 9:24 am |
Industry News
More on Creative Loafing's Bankruptcy Protection Filing
When Creative Loafing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, the news was widely reported. AAN News scoured the wires, separated the wheat from the chaff, and collected some of the pertinent information and opinion.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
09-30-2008 1:27 pm |
Industry News
North Coast Journal Story on Weapons Permits Causes a Stir
The Humboldt County alt-weekly provoked an angry response last week with a cover story revealing the names of citizens who have permits to carry concealed weapons in the county. The cover illustration of a handgun was composed of names supplied by the county sheriff's office of 641 individuals holding such a permit. The story has caused an "internet shitstorm," editor Hank Sims tells AAN News, as evidenced by the comments on the story itself and various online forums and blogs. Sims notes that the reaction online has been much harsher than his face-to-face encounters. "A number of local people called or came into the office last week a little bit angry, wondering how we got their name or why we should be allowed to publish the list. They were all very cool, and I had some great conversations," he says. "These out-of-town internet dudes are another matter."
AAN News |
09-30-2008 10:44 am |
Industry News
Pro-Voting Public Service Ads Available for AAN Members
Portland-based ad agency Borders Perrin Norrander has created a campaign urging people to vote this fall and is offering the ads for AAN members to run between now and election day. Much like the presidential campaign, the ad campaign's theme is change, with the tag line "Don't Vote. Things Are Just Fine the Way They Are," paired with striking visual representations of some of the country's most pressing problems. Willamette Week publisher Richard Meeker says the agency is OK with AAN members turning to other advertisers to help sponsor the advertisements and perhaps get them more prominently placed within the paper. Meeker adds that WW is trying to secure ad dollars from MoveOn.org so they can run the Borders ads on full pages, rather than on a space-available basis. To view the ads, visit ThingsAreFine.org.
AAN News |
09-30-2008 9:51 am |
Industry News
Study: Number of Americans Watching Online Video Rises Sharplynew
Media Daily News |
09-30-2008 8:47 am |
Industry News
Creative Loafing Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protectionnew
The company, which owns Creative Loafing papers in Atlanta, Charlotte, Sarasota and Tampa, as well as the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning, the St. Petersburg Times reports. City Paper editor Erik Wemple reports that CEO Ben Eason discussed the filing with top company officials in a conference call this morning, and said that the bankruptcy filing would allow CL's six papers to establish a greater online presence while the company reorganizes its operations. A corporate memo on the filing says it "has little to do with the acquisition" of the Reader and City Paper last year. Eason also said that the move entails no liquidation or layoffs. In fact, the Chapter 11 filing will roll back editorial staff cuts at the papers, Wemple writes. MORE: Read more about the move from Creative Loafing (Tampa), the Reader, Crain's and Bloomberg News.
The St. Petersburg Times | Washington City Paper |
09-29-2008 12:15 pm |
Industry News
Tags: Circulation, Classified Advertising, Design & Production, Editorial, Electronic Publishing, Financial, Management, Marketing, Retail Advertising, CL, Inc., Washington City Paper, Chicago Reader, Creative Loafing (Atlanta), Creative Loafing (Charlotte), Creative Loafing (Tampa), Creative Loafing (Sarasota), Ben Eason, Erik Wemple
Bitchy Alt-Weekly Theater Critic's Kinky Sex Life Brings Him to Ruinnew
That's the rough plot sketch of Ambition, a play currently in South Florida theaters, according to Miami New Times. "Within minutes of curtain-up, it becomes apparent that [writer/director Jim] Tommaney knows nothing about the practices of alternative newsweeklies," New Times critic Brandon K. Thorp writes. "We critics do not dictate our stories, and our editors do not cower before us (quite the opposite). Nor do they glory in negativity (again, quite the opposite; editors love it when we can say something nice about the local arts community -- it is the community to which they have the most philosophical allegiance)."
Miami New Times |
09-29-2008 10:29 am |
Industry News
Fast Forward Weekly Story Provokes Response from Prime Minister
Fast Forward Weekly, the alt-weekly in Calgary, Canada, published a story Sept. 25 that quoted a Calgary Member of Parliament making comments linking immigrants to crime in the middle of an election campaign. Lee Richardson made the comments in a telephone interview with the paper, and as soon as the story was published, it was picked up in the local and national media. The following day, Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper dismissed the story as a ridiculous example of "gotcha journalism" -- even though the paper had phoned Richardson after the initial interview to ask him to clarify his remarks. (Richardson's retraction was included in the Fast Forward story.) The story even warrented a mention on Comedy Central's election blog.
AAN News |
09-26-2008 5:28 pm |
Industry News
Washington City Paper Shifting to More Web-Centric Approachnew
The Georgetown Voice's nearly 3,000-word story on the alt-weekly looks at how it is evolving under the ownership of Creative Loafing, and how the paper is fighting to maintain its identity -- and market share -- despite having fewer resources. "You want to create a rich environment and then bring it down into the print," says CL CEO Ben Eason, who is currently focused on uniting the company's six papers as a national web presence. "Without a doubt, the web is a far richer environment than print." Editor Erik Wemple says he sees the paper a year from now as being "very, very, very much a web machine." But publisher Amy Austin adds that, while online advertising revenue is quickly growing for City Paper, it still only makes up approximately 5 percent of the paper's total revenue, which has been in decline. By 2006, the paper's net revenue -- traditionally around 15 percent -- had fallen to 4.7 percent.
The Georgetown Voice |
09-26-2008 4:27 pm |
Industry News
East Bay Express Publisher Talks Distribution Strategy
Jody Colley left her position as advertising director at the San Francisco Bay Guardian to become publisher of the East Bay Express when the paper was sold by Village Voice Media to local investors in May 2007. Since then, the Express has been working on a variety of distribution-related changes: Introducing graffiti-painted art racks, fighting newspaper theft by hiring a private eye, and trying to distribute a higher percentage of papers indoors. Express president Hal Brody has even patented a system that prevents people from taking more than a few papers out of a news box at a time. Colley recently talked to AAN News about these and other developments. For more from Jody Colley, check out her Q&A with newspaper consultant Terry Garrett on his blog.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
09-26-2008 4:20 pm |
Industry News
Former City Pages Editor Looks Back at 1980s Alt-Weekly Scenenew
In a piece for Minneapolis Observer Quarterly, Craig Cox weaves a review of David Carr's The Night of the Gun with personal anecdotes about Carr (a former editor for the now-defunct Twin Cities Reader, City Pages' crosstown rival) and the Twin Cities alt-weekly scene of the 1980s. "Once you were accepted into the club as a freelancer or -- dream of dreams -- a staffer at one of the two local alternative weeklies, you were plugged into the local pop culture scene in a way no one else was," Cox writes. "You didn't have to be high or narcissistic back then to feel good about working six days a week, every week (as we did at City Pages) for three or four hundred bucks. It was kind of an exclusive fraternity."
Minneapolis Observer Quarterly |
09-25-2008 11:25 am |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly Helps Solve String of Arson Firesnew
While investigating a string of rubbish fires started in trashcans near bus shelters this summer, Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigators caught a break when they found a witness who saw a man with a copy of the Weekly sticking out of his back pocket leaving the scene. Arson investigator John Little found the alleged arsonist strolling down the street, carrying a ripped out section of the Weekly in his back pocket. Little says he also found a "time delayed device" wrapped in burnt pieces of the paper in the trashcan. "It was a real CSI type thing," says Little. "We recovered newspaper out of the trash container and opened it up and saw a matchbook device. The section that was ripped out matched the papers in his back pocket ... He would set the newspaper down there and go across the street and watch." The 64-year-old suspect has been charged with arson. "And to think I believed copies of the newspaper flew off the racks because our readers couldn't get enough of our Calendar section," writes Christine Pelisek. "Guess again!"
L.A. Weekly |
09-25-2008 9:11 am |
Industry News
Tags: Circulation, L.A. Weekly
Yahoo Overhauls System for Selling Display Adsnew
The New York Times |
09-25-2008 9:14 am |
Industry News
