Providence Journal Ad Revenue Plummets Again
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
It is not breaking news that The Providence Journal has been having tough times related to advertising and circulation for quite some time now. However, a recent annual report filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission gives a clearer picture at what is happening at A.H. Belo based in Texas who owns the once mighty Providence Journal.
SEC Filings
For the year 2010, according to the filing, the paper collected about $99.9 million dollars., This is the first time the paper has gone below $100-million in advertising dollars. In 2010, documents show the Journal watched it ad revenue plunge by more than $11-million or 16.1 %. In 2009, the company showed revenue of about $105-million and in 2008, the numbers were $131-million dollars. So between 2008 and today----The Providence Journal has lost about $30-million in revenue – a huge hit without question.
In the report, the company blames a bad economy among other factors for the continued dip in revenue.
“In 2010, 2009 and 2008 the Company’s revenues were adversely affected by economic and operating pressures. Advertisers tend to reduce ad budgets more than other expenses in times of economic uncertainty or recession. The recently experienced economic slowdown and the shift of advertising expenditures to other forms of media adversely affected advertising demand and the Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations”
“Other forms of media” would be exactly where you are right now. The digital space with fresh and engaging content like GoLocalProv has nearly devoured newspapers like the Providence Journal and the fact is the trend shows it only getting worse. Fewer readers means fewer advertisers and that translates into dollars.
Projo.com's Digital Dollars Dropping
Perhaps one of most dire stats comes from the digital advertising numbers. As you may know, the Journal tries to keep a focus on its online Web site and in reality has a fairly large base of visitors each day. However, the sales department is apparently not able to capitalize on the numbers because digital advertising with the paper dropped to $7.6 million for 2010. In 2008, the paper reported digital sales at $9.7 million. In this age of internet news and information platforms, this is not good news for the “paper of record” because this is where the advertising dollar is going to in droves.
The paper has made it clear that they feel they have the local content in its newspapers to build circulation rates. In its filing here is what was said about circulation and the prices being charged.
“The Company is aggressively positioning its newspapers as a premium product, offering relevant and differentiated local content, and has therefore increased subscription prices in each of its markets”.
What that means is that the possibility exists for an even higher charge for subscribers to help cover increased operating costs.
Pay Wall Option Still On the Table
The talk centering around the Journal’s idea to charge people for content for on-line stories and information is still alive and well even though no firm start dates or charges have been announced. A.H. Belo, which also owns The Dallas Morning News has already started to charge readers for content on dallasnews.com. If that happens here, you can count on digital numbers, including badly needed advertising dollars to decline. The idea of someone paying to go on projo.com has many media experts scratching their heads as a bad idea. The horse has left the stable and to NOW start charging people to see content that they have been getting for free will likely be received as a negative here in Rhode Island.
Even A.H. Belo themselves say pretty clearly in their SEC filing that the idea of charging people for content may be a doomed plan.
“There can be no assurance that these new initiatives will be embraced by existing subscribers or allow the Company to attract new subscribers.”
So certainly from a readership and circulation point of view, the “glory days” for The Providence Journal are over and now from the numbers we see --- the idea of the Journal printing money in terms of revenue has gone out the window as well.
Jeff Derderian is a former television news reporter and anchor both in Providence and Boston. He is one of the founders of the Station Education Fund. He can be reached at [email protected]
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