If there's no color, the color is red
This might seem trivial, but it means something. Look at the back page of the front section of Tuesday's newspaper. There's a big "Thanks to You" ad, where the Enquirer thanks its readers and advertisers for spending their money with the paper.
The back page of the front section is one of the best spots for advertising in the paper. It's a highly-visible full page, with full color available. The Enquirer can make a lot of money on this page, especially when it sells color. The fact that there's a house ad (that's what it's called when a newspaper advertises itself on its own pages) there means the Enquirer couldn't sell it. That's not good. The Enquirer has been selling this page less often recently:
This isn't as cut and dried as it used to be, because the Enquirer can print ads in color inside most sections -- as it did today, with the big "Gear Up" ad on page 5, or the Kroger double-truck on pages 8-9. This decline might be seasonal but the fact that the Enquirer doesn't fill this space regularly says the newspaper doesn't have enough demand for what should be a prime advertising spot in the newspaper. And what happens when you don't sell enough ads?
The back page of the front section is one of the best spots for advertising in the paper. It's a highly-visible full page, with full color available. The Enquirer can make a lot of money on this page, especially when it sells color. The fact that there's a house ad (that's what it's called when a newspaper advertises itself on its own pages) there means the Enquirer couldn't sell it. That's not good. The Enquirer has been selling this page less often recently:
- Week of Jan 14 -- six times (Sunday included)
- Week of Jan 21 -- three times (Sunday included)
- Week of Jan 28 -- two (one is black and white, Sunday not sold)
- Week of Feb 4 -- one (on Monday, black and white, Sunday not sold)
This isn't as cut and dried as it used to be, because the Enquirer can print ads in color inside most sections -- as it did today, with the big "Gear Up" ad on page 5, or the Kroger double-truck on pages 8-9. This decline might be seasonal but the fact that the Enquirer doesn't fill this space regularly says the newspaper doesn't have enough demand for what should be a prime advertising spot in the newspaper. And what happens when you don't sell enough ads?
3 Comments:
It's much much worse than all that. I hadn't seen The Enquirer in several years and today they put a page-by-page edition online. The news product really looks abhorrent. Dull. Lifeless.
It needs more than a redesign, it needs a goddamned bulldozer.
Plus, let's not forget about ads that go in as "value added" for advertisers. Definition: ads that get placed in the paper for free to fill space when needed.
Beat the BEAST--insist on ezcellence. Insist on a good story. F U c K squatty gannett.
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