I met a person at a newspaper conference last week, that I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t previously know. His name is Kevin Slimp. I’m certain many of you are already hip to Kevin. If not, check out KevinSlimp.com. It’ll be well worth your time.
Anyway, the unofficial theme of the industry conference I attended last week seemed to be ”newspapers are doing just fine,” and this theme dovetails nicely with the general theme The Print Observer blog. That is, print advertising works very well and newspapers, at least some, are not only surviving but thriving.
Along the lines of the relative health of the newspaper industry, this is one tidbit I learned from Kevin Slimp. In one of his recently completed surveys (over 800 newspaper executives and senior managers participated) Kevin learned that newspapers with the most local control were thriving the most. In other words, remote, corporate ownership was a strong indicator of less optimism and financial health.
Publication executives/managers were asked to compare their financial health today versus three years ago; 40% of ”independent, local” publications indicated their financial health was better and only 21% of papers in ”large, national groups” indicated their financial health was better. Kevin’s survey results also show that newspapers in the Midwest and southeast are doing better than in other areas of the country.
Very interesting study indeed. To read more about the results, go to www.kevinslimp.com
-Jim Jinks
The Print Observer - Newspaper & Magazine Advertising Insights 