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Marketing the News JOUR 350 The News and Media Business Week 5 Competing with TV “marketing” approach to news first seen in late 1970s more reader-friendly content a/k/a “disco” journalism USA Today revolutionized newspaper design in 1982 Full color, extensive use of graphics Shorter stories, bite-sized “factoids” Selling audiences to advertisers newspapers traditionally relied on circulation data readership demographics age, income, occupation, etc. broadcast audiences harder to define used phone surveys, ie. A.C. Nielsen but gathered much more useful information ie. spending habits Readership surveys circulation dip made newspapers compete began surveying readers, non-readers to determine what content would sell “Market-driven” journalism began giving readers what they said they wanted not what editors thought they should know circulation rose in U.S. from 60.7 million in 1975 to 62.8 million in 1990 Newspaper Readership Project Started in 1977 by alphabet soup ANPA, ASNE, NAB, etc. conducted 70 research studies held 10 conferences Suddenly marketing consultants were everywhere Presstime estimated their numbers in the hundreds Targeting the “Me Generation” Consultants urged editors to appeal to a younger readership that wanted help in coping with life Urged more people items, celebrity coverage to attract readers Briefer news coverage, summary boxes Light features How-to sections Survey research often problematic Answers aren’t always accurate Focus groups brought consumers together Focus groups emerge For more in-depth discussion, comparison Allowed market researchers to get deeper into the public mind Utilized increasingly sophisticated marketing methods What do readers want? More upbeat stories – less bad news More “escape” stories, light features Shorter stories – quick reads Led to the rise of “news you can use” In-depth reporting declined ie. focus on the self Style prevailed over substance Case study: USA Today Created by Gannett chain in 1982 Targeted national readership Focus on sports a killer weather map Short stories became known as “News McNuggets” Case study: Vancouver Province Converted to tabloid format in 1983 after much market testing Martin Goldfarb and Associates surveys in 1981 papers “cold, impersonal, aloof, [and] mercenary” consultant Leonard Kubas found 63% of Vancouverites considered them identical Going tabloid Southam had market-tested a tabloid in 1981 as a third newspaper called Pacific Post showed a tab would be a hit with readers but there would not be enough advertising revenue for it as a third paper would appeal to a different readership than the Sun as the second paper, however, it would be more attractive to advertisers Further test-marketing 80-page mockup of tabloid Pacific Post produced in March, 1983 550 members of focus groups tested for their reaction -- proved positive Pitched tab to Southam board April 22 approved unanimously called “the most exhaustive analysis of market position and future options ever undertaken by a Canadian newspaper” The “Breezy Tab” relaunch accompanied by a $500,000 ad campaign 1,000 TV commercials 1,600 radio spots extensive market-testing had come up with a slogan: “All the News! Convenient too!” Sun called it “the first Canadian newspaper to be designed from the start by marketing studies” The Little Newspaper That Grew 1 98 3 1 98 5 1 98 7 1 98 9 1 99 0 1 99 1 1 99 5 2 00 0 Sun 243,419 248,472 239,237 230,782 220,141 210,917 206,027 200,420 Province 148,928 175,078 183,018 189,028 190,949 189,124 159,815 166,746 The ’90s – a decade of desperation advertisers began deserting newspapers traditional newspaper advertisers failed ie. department stores (Woodward’s, Eaton’s) big-box retailers emerged in their place used new promotion strategies (direct mail) ie. Walmart 1990 recession saw first drop in ad revenue in 20 years dropped 5% in 1991 – biggest dip in 50 years! The end of newspapers? competition from cable TV news grew drained readership the Internet threatened advertising base classified ads ie. cars, homes, autos some predicted newspapers would die out and be replaced by online news, advertising Going the “audience quality” route survey research focused more on buying traits of readers called “psychographics” to prove they could deliver more desirable consumers than radio and TV began constructing audience profiles based on psychological traits of readers as determined by survey research Case study: The Vancouver Sun paid polling firm Angus Reid $100,000 in early ’90s to conduct a sophisticated survey of readers classified into psychographic categories: “literate acquisitors” (21 percent) “middle-class joiners” “home bodies” “post-literate hedonists” “insular forlorn” (11 percent) Case study: Orange County Register Has taken the reader-oriented approach furthest Includes reader-written features Reader-friendly beats Columns on dreams, favorite vacations Shopping malls “car culture” also has an innovative organizational structure “flat” hierarchical structure called “newsroom without walls”