Posted on 04/17/2009 7:13:21 AM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Gannett's Woes: Revenue Fall Accelerates
Gannett Co. television revenues will continue to sink at a double-digit percentage rate in the coming months. This follows lower revenue trends that the company's TV stations had in the first quarter.
Broadcasting revenues for the first quarter 2009 were $143.5 million, compared to $170.2 million in the first quarter of 2008 -- a 15.7% decline. Operating income for its broadcasting businesses sank 24% to $44 million.
Much of the drop comes from the absence of political advertising versus a year ago, and from weaker ad sales from the automotive and retail categories. Some of these results were partially offset by increases in retransmission revenues and Super Bowl advertising from traditional TV and related online sales for Gannett's NBC affiliates.
While broadcast revenues were weak, the company's publishing operating ad revenues were worse -- dropping 34.1% to $722 million in the first quarter. Category declines for the company's U.S. operations were witnessed in classified revenues, down 39%; real estate, a decline of 37%; employment advertising, off 60%; and automotive, a 33% drop.
USA Today's advertising revenues sank 33.5% in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2008.
Overall, the company's first-quarter operating revenues were off 18% to $1.4 million, with operating income sinking 49% to $166 million. Net income sank 60% to $77.7 million.
The only bright spot for Gannett came with digital revenues during the period -- up $143.1 million. The businesses' operating cash flow rose to $7.9 million from $515,000 in the first quarter of 2008.
Reading between the lines you find that print is in major trouble (give it another 18-24 months and you will see at least a dozen papers closed or gone 100% digital), and you see where the profits are...online..but that doesn’t mean squat unless you are putting news out that is original, groundbreaking, and not just a mirror of every other news site out there.
“America’s Newspaper” is in deep, deep, deep trouble.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
It Was A Very Bad Year: Old Media Suffers Long-Term Declines
by Erik Sass, Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 5:51 PM
The fixes are in for 2009, and it’s looking pretty bad for traditional media in America. Various forecasts have ad revenues for radio, magazines, and newspapers dropping by double digits across the board, compounding alarming declines for all three media in 2008 (see graph below).
The economic downturn was a popular culprit during fourth-quarter conference calls, and the bogeyman will doubtless make another appearance when first-quarter earnings results are announced. But don’t believe the hype: The general downward trend was in evidence well before the recession began, reflecting fundamental secular shifts in media consumption and advertising. If anything, the economic downturn is merely accelerating this process.
There’s no question that the falling fortunes of radio, magazines and newspapers are coinciding with recessionary trends. In the fourth quarter of 2008, as the economy went into freefall, radio revenues fell 11%, according to the Radio Advertising Bureaul; magazine revenues declined 14% according to the Publishers Information Bureau; and newspaper revenues dropped 20%, according to the Newspaper Association of America.
These declines accompanied a 3.8% drop in U.S. real GDP during the fourth quarter. Looking to the future, analysts are predicting a 3.1% drop in U.S. real GDP in 2009. SNL Kagan forecasts a drop of “at least 15%” in radio revenues, and American consumer magazines will see ad revenues tumble 16.2%, according to eMarketer, and Barclays Capital predicts that U.S. newspaper ad revenues will fall 17% in 2009.
But the fact remains: all three media sank long before the economy tanked.
According to a non-partisan government panel of economists, the recession began in November 2007, but traditional media were ahead of the curve. Radio’s last year of positive revenue growth was 2004, while newspaper revenues and magazine ad pages both stalled the year after. Historically, it’s true that ad spending in these media has anticipated recent economic downturns, but never by more than a year. For example, newspaper revenues went slightly negative with a 0.4% drop in 1990, anticipating a recession that gathered speed in 1991. This time around, however, the ad revenue declines came two to three years ahead of the economic meltdown.
Even more ominous — and indicative of the underlying secular shift in media consumption and spending — these media failed to grow substantially when the economy was relatively strong earlier this decade, failing to keep up with U.S. real GDP. This is a big change from their previous results. Surveying the 31-year period from 1970-2000, radio revenue grew faster than GDP 29 out of 31 times, magazine ad pages grew faster than GDP 19 out of 31 times, and newspapers beat GDP 28 out of 31 times.
In the eight years from 2001-2008, however, radio revenues beat GDP only once, while magazine ad pages and newspapers both beat GDP twice. Therefore, comparing the periods before and after 2000, radio went from beating GDP 94% of the time to 12%, magazines from 61% to 25%, and newspapers from 90% to 25%.
Seems like a LOT of reporters have switched to jobs in the Obama regime. They saw this coming, which is why they were so hot for Obama, knowing he would provide them with lifeboats if their news medias sank.
As encouraging as some of the impending lib newspapers failures are, there is a down side to this. Some of those big newspaper conglomerates also gobbled up some conservative papers. Some of those papers are still doing well, but are also falling victim to cost cutting because the conglomerate is in trouble. I recently read about layoffs at a Columbus, Georgia newspaper that was sound, but part of a conglomerate with a huge debt burden it could no longer meet because of all the failing papers it owned.
Maybe the still viable, smaller papers will be purchased and run by new owners as the big lib papers fail.
“Seems like a LOT of reporters have switched to jobs in the Obama regime..”
Might as well make it ‘official’...then WE can all pay for their retirement, health care and bonuses.
(eye roll)
We have Business Journal in OK which is gaining not only print subscribers but an on-line presence. In fact the people on-line who subscribe are different for the most part from the ones who take the print edition. The Jouronal Record paper is growing because they are honest, ethical and work hard to make sure their sources are accurate. They report on Oklahoma business along with politics and what happens at the OK Capitol. It is a statewide paper that is run by a Publisher and Editor who are from the old fashioned journalist era where ethics mattered and have brought that into today’s times. To them ethics is at the heart of all their stories.
Shows me if it is an honest paper, people will subscribe. It is the biased message from so many of the countries papers that has led to the decline of the newspaper industry. An honest, ethical reporter will always find a job.
This election proved how worthless so many journalist have become over the years and how they have let their own personal feelings enter into their reporting. Now they, their editors, and publishers are paying for turning their backs on ETHICS, INTEGRITY, and HONESTY.
They can blame it on anything they want. Fact is they are using a Soviet style business model and until they change from agenda driven left wing editorials to real news, the fall will continue.
The content of almost every paper is far too liberal.
The company that makes newsprint from trees etc filed for bankruptcy. Abitibi-Bowater.
The Wall Street Journal decided to tack to the left recently and their pages are dropping by the day along with their ads. The fools are too chicken to point out the obvious - the economy stinks because O’s socialism and no one has any confidence in the usurper.
GREAT NEWS!!!
Gannett is the MOTHER of all leftist media organizations.
I think they produce U.S.A. Toady too.
Or maybe you meant "more deserving." Gannett is the worst of the politically correct worst. The company has taken over hundreds of formerly decent papers and turned them into Marxist propaganda machines. I hope the company suffers a very painful death. Not that I'm angry or anything...
Not to mention America, Mom. ;^)
Obama Appointee Suggests Radical Plan for Newspaper Bailout
[”Influential Los Angeles Times columnist Rosa Brooks”]
FoxNews | Thursday, April 16, 2009
Posted on 04/16/2009 1:16:34 PM PDT by Joiseydude
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2230915/posts
You are right about America but if they had Ethics, Integrity, and Honesty they wouldn’t be turning their back on America, they would be espousing Freedom of the Press and reporting facts not spin. This current crop of kneepadders for ZERO, are a disgrace to the Founding Fathers who thought enough of the Press to put it in the Constitution that there will be Freedom of the Press which carried with it a responsibility which today’s so-called journalist have abdicated in favor of their own agenda.
It’s all a bunch of lies and bull. The stock market is back up. Don’t believe all of the negative stuff.
What ethics, integrity and honesty are you tlking about, Mom?
The subject is: money.
In SPITE of what they prattle on about.
"...they would be espousing Freedom of the Press and reporting facts not spin."
Unless they believed doing otherwise meant something was in it, for themselves.
That'd explain the motive anyway, eh?
"This current crop of kneepadders for ZERO, are a disgrace to the Founding Fathers who thought enough of the Press to put it in the Constitution that there will be Freedom of the Press which carried with it a responsibility which today’s so-called journalist have abdicated in favor of their own agenda."
Yup, you got it. ;^)
Luckily for us we're "veterans" of the Cultural War which began in earnest under Clinigula.
Remember?
The zerO ain't nothing new, his sycophants are though.
But they're *young*, never learned history.
Say, Mom.
Heard Hillary's auctioning off a day (hehe) with Clintigula in an effort to "retire" some of her campaign debt. Know any 'Rats? Make one hellova gift, Mom. :o)
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