AAN News

Analyst: Some Paid Advertising Will Be Lost for Good in Downturnnew

PricewaterhouseCoopers' Marcel Fenez tells the New York Times that after a 12 percent plunge this year, global ad spending will not climb back to 2007 levels for five years, largely due to the emergence of cost-free avenues like social media to disseminate branding messages. "It's different this time," he says. "There's obviously some element of cyclical in it, but our belief is that it is largely structural."
The New York Times  |  06-22-2009  10:17 am  |  Industry News

Online Publishers Association/comScore Study Looks at 'Silent Clicks'new

The study is "designed to move beyond the 'click' as a measure of online advertising success," Silicon Alley Insider reports. It assesses 80 branding campaigns across 200 websites over a month's time, analyzing consumer behaviors of users exposed to display advertising. "To date, measuring a brand campaign meant relying on the click," Online Publishers Association president Pam Horan says in a release. "In order to understand the value of the audiences that display advertising attracts, our study helps marketers think about real behavioral measures designed to move the needle."
Silicon Alley Insider  |  06-19-2009  9:43 am  |  Industry News

Five Papers Apply for AAN Membership, Six More Will Be Reviewed

Of the five hopefuls, there are some familiar names: Three have previously applied for membership and one first-time applicant is a sister paper of a current AAN member. The status of six current member papers will also be reviewed this year. (FULL STORY)
AAN News  |  06-18-2009  12:39 pm  |  Association News

VVM Launches Local Online Ad Network

The Voice Local Network will allow select publishers to monetize their content using Village Voice Media's locally based sales forces. VVM says the network is designed for web publishers that match both the content and the core demographics of its newspapers. "We've been working the streets, merchant to merchant, for years developing personal relationships in all of our cities," VVM president and chief operating officer Scott Tobias says. "Through these connections, we've developed a very high local CPM web business, and it's a natural evolution to help other publishers tap into our network of advertisers." (FULL STORY)
Village Voice Media Press Release  |  06-15-2009  1:01 pm  |  Press Releases

Report: Craigslist's 2009 Revenue Will Top $100 Millionnew

The AIM Group/Classified Intelligence estimates the online classifieds network will generate $100 million in revenue this year, an increase of more than 23 percent from Craigslist's estimated revenue of $81 million in 2008. "This is a down market for just about everyone else but Craigslist," AIM Group editorial director Jim Townsend says. To come up with what it calls a conservative projection, the firm counted the number of paid ads on the site for a month and extrapolated an annual figure.
The New York Times  |  06-10-2009  7:50 am  |  Industry News

Nielsen: U.S. Ad Spending Down 12 Percent in First Quarternew

Preliminary figures show that the decline from 1Q 2008 to 1Q 2009 amounts to a drop of $3.8 billion in total U.S. ad spending, according to Nielsen. Local newspaper advertising was off by 14.3 percent, while internet advertising was only down by 3.4 percent. The worst-faring sector was local newspapers' Sunday supplements, which was off by 37.7 percent.
Marketing Daily  |  06-09-2009  10:22 am  |  Industry News

Is Craigslist's New Adult Ad Policy Helping Alt-Weeklies?new

Washington City Paper classified manager Heather McAndrews says that in the first week of May, adult ads were up 38 percent over the same time last year; City Pages publisher Mark Bartel says adult ads there have "almost doubled;" and SF Weekly's adult ad count has jumped from 160 before Craigslist's new policy went into effect to 910 last week. One woman who advertises in both City Paper and Craigslist tells the alt-weekly that Craigslist's "standard is no good because you cannot really describe who you are."
Washington City Paper  |  06-02-2009  3:25 pm  |  Industry News

Connecticut Alt-Weeklies Outsource This Week's Issue

When a news website in Pasadena made headlines last year for its decision to outsource City Hall coverage to reporters in India, the group managing editor of the Hartford Advocate, New Haven Advocate and Fairfield County Weekly wondered if his three alt-weeklies could do the same thing. While John Adamian's idea started as a joke, it quickly led to an actual exercise in outsourcing journalism -- and the results are this week's papers, which have been mostly generated by Indian freelancers. The papers say the experiment proves that outsourcing a local newspaper is possible, but not recommended. "Call us old-school, but we think good, old-fashioned shoe-leather journalism is worth the price," the staff writes in an editors' note. "Outsourcing could certainly fill pages, probably very cheaply, but what's lost is the very essence of local newspapers: presence." (FULL STORY)
New Mass. Media Press Release  |  05-27-2009  9:16 am  |  Press Releases

Convention Early Registration Deadline is Friday

Be sure to register for the 32nd annual AAN Convention by the end of the day on Friday, May 22 to obtain the early registration rate. The discounted rate for members is $325 per person, and for non-members it's $425. On May 23, rates will increase by $50 per person. Click here.
AAN  |  05-21-2009  9:56 am  |  Association News

Ben Eason Sees Opportunity in Chapter 11 Protectionnew

The Creative Loafing CEO tells Editor & Publisher that bankruptcy has given the six-paper chain the opportunity to speed its transformation to digital publishing and to cut its costs. He says that his staff is spending 90 percent of its energy on the web and the other 10 percent on print -- which would be impossible without bankruptcy. "Everyone in the business knows print pays the bills, but most folks don't understand that digital contributes to the profits," he says. In a pre-Chapter 11 company, "the profit expectation baked into the capital structure is entirely based on maintenance of historical print profit margins." Eason also says he expects CL to emerge from bankruptcy this summer.
Editor & Publisher  |  05-20-2009  9:19 am  |  Industry News

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