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Have You Noticed How ‘Newspaper’ Seems To Be A Dirty Word These Days – Even The American Society Of Newspaper Editors Wants To Get The Word ‘Paper’ Out of Its Name --- Philip M. Stone December 18, 2008
Everyone seems to be breaking their heads these days trying to figure out how to resurrect the newspaper industry, so it seems a bit shameful that organizations with the word “paper” in their title are shying away from such an affiliation.

Newspapers Attain That Nightmare Scenario – Print Revenues Hemorrhaging Worse Each Quarter With Online Growth Down To A Trickle --- Philip M. Stone August 28, 2008
The nightmare for many publishers is coming true. Their business plan that relied upon online revenues annually growing by at least 20 – 30% to account as quickly as possible for some 50% of the company’s total revenues while print meanwhile strips away whatever it can to buy the necessary time has taken an arrow to the heart. For many publishers online growth has slowed to negligible while print’s advertising losses are gaining with each reporting month.

The Gray Lady Sees Red – A Bombshell Q1 Loss For The New York Times Company And Is That The Harbinger Of Things To Come? --- Philip M. Stone April 18, 2008
With so much bad news about the US newspaper industry for the past couple of years' quarterly reports showing larger revenue declines attract mostly yawns these days, but the New York Times Company had mouths gaping Thursday by announcing a quarterly loss. Are things really that bad? Apparently so.

With a little help from friends Middle East TV expands --- Michael Hedges March 15, 2008
The surest way to upgrade a languishing media market is to entice experience from afar. Sometimes money helps but in the Middle East, benefiting from record oil prices, that’s no object. A special expertise is most wanted.

With A Juicy Sex Scandal Involving the Governor of New York What Should Have Been The First Move By A Smart Newspaper Marketing Manager? To Buy The Search Words 'Eliot Spitzer' on Google and Yahoo --- Philip M. Stone March 12, 2008
With Eliot Spitzer apologizing on live television, but never actually saying for what he was sorry, his wife, Silda, standing by his side and obviously wishing she could be anywhere but there, with the New York Times breaking on its web site the scoop that the New York governor apparently had made use of an international prostitution service, it was left to the smart marketing folks at Newsday who understood very quickly what really needed to get done with this story -- lock up the Eliot Spitzer search term on Google.

Is It Right For Marketing To Intrude Into Editorial? --- Philip M. Stone February 7, 2008
Here’s a sub – head on a Times of London feature about Bill Forsyth, the writer and director of the 1981 movie, Gregory’s Girl: ‘Gregory’s Girl, free with the Times on Saturday, is a much-loved cult film …’ The article ran to near 2,000 words.

We’re Probably Going To See More and More ‘Price Increase, But Still Great Value’ Headlines As Newspapers Raise Their Newsstand Prices To Claw Back Revenue --- Philip M. Stone January 10, 2008
The Financial Times, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune are just three major newspapers that within the past couple of weeks have raised their newsstand prices, primarily because they saw that recent price increases by others, or in the case of the FT by itself, have helped the bottom line without losing many readers.

‘Any Editor Who Thinks He Can Sell His Newspaper Entirely On News …Is Not Going To Succeed’ – Peter Wright, Editor Of The UK’s Mail On Sunday --- Philip M. Stone November 27, 2007
Back in July ftm suggested that newspapers desperate for new revenue streams should take a close look at their circulation distribution systems, and maybe those systems could be used to deliver more than just the daily newspaper, so we take particular note that Peter Wright, editor of the UK’s Mail on Sunday tabloid gave basically the same message recently to the Society of Editors conference.

If You Want To Rock n’ Roll Or Just Plain Listen To Previously Unreleased Music For Free, Let Alone Watch Movies Not Yet Released, Or Take Really Cheap Vacations Then Just Buy UK National Newspapers --- Philip M. Stone October 16, 2007
Their music may be quite different but there is something that binds together such diverse musicians as Ray Davies, Prince, Travis, The Stranglers, Bob Marley, Iggy Pop, Ian Dury, and The Ramones – their CDs are free when buying a UK national newspaper.

To UK National Publishers It Seems To Be A No-Brainer – Circulation Is Down So It’s Time To Raise the Newsstand Price --- Philip M. Stone September 13, 2007
The Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph all have one thing in common – their August circulation numbers were down so in September those UK national newspapers raised newsstand prices. No doubt the accountants have done the math and figured the additional revenue per copy will be more than forecast losses from lower circulation.

That Prince CD Giveaway Allows The Mail on Sunday to Boast Its July Average Circulation Grew By Some 200,000 But In Reality The Net Gain Is Somewhere Between 0 and 31,000 --- Philip M. Stone August 14, 2007
The Prince CD giveaway did what the UK’s Mail On Sunday (MoS) wanted – it boosted its July average circulation numbers by some 4.43% over the same period a year ago and by 1.92% over June, but the full July numbers indicate there was very little if any glue from one week to another by giving away 2.8 million copies of Prince’s new CD, so will advertisers be fooled by the one-off numbers?

As Newspapers Desperately Seek New Revenue Streams They Should Have Their Marketing Folks Concentrate On Something Already In-House – The Distribution/Circulation System --- Philip M. Stone July 18, 2007
It’s no secret how desperate newspapers are for new revenue streams – witness Tribune’s decision to run front page ad strips in all its newspapers which it believes could be worth millions in new money – but maybe newspapers should look closer at their circulation distribution systems for there are some bright ideas out there how newspapers can earn a lot of money by selling and delivering more than just the daily newspaper.

A Shrewd Marketing Ploy By Prince, The Artist Who Formerly Sold His CDs In Stores But Now Has Given Away His Latest With A UK Sunday Newspaper, Has Music Retailers Raging Purple --- Philip Stone July 17, 2007
For Prince, the pop musician from Minneapolis, it was marketing bordering on the genius that has UK CD retailers furious but got the singer untold millions of $€£ in free promotion for his European concert tour. For The Mail on Sunday newspaper it was a marketing gem that probably cost around £500,000 ($1 million) and boosted its circulation by some 500,000 on the day. So, was it a win-win to give away Prince’s new Plant Earth CD and not sell it in the shops? For Prince, absolutely, For the Mail on Sunday the jury is still out.

Fragmentation -- A Word That Is Already Giving Newspapers And Their Web Sites Grief; “We’re Following The Money” – Words Advertisers Are Telling Newspaper Publishers Causing Even More Sorrow --- Philip M. Stone May 10, 2007
Fragmentation has already hit print, and it is starting to show up on its web sites, too. One stop shopping at a generalist news operation is losing favor to specialist operations. Why read about professional sports in your local paper or its web site, for instance, when you can visit ESPN and similar on the web that provide more specialist detailed sports information than one can ever absorb.

The Young Broke Box Office Records For Spider-Man 3 And That’s Really Bad News For Newspapers As Sony Pictures Concentrated On Digital Marketing Rather Than Newspaper Ads, Toyota Relaunches The Scion xB Without Newspaper Ads, And Macy’s Warns Publishers They Will Continue To Lose Out Unless They Change Their Ways. --- Philip M. Stone - May 9, 2007
With the young your primary customers, and you believe that target audience has drifted away from newspapers to the Web then who can blame Sony Pictures for following the money to the Web too, with resulting box office records for Spider-Man 3 around the world. Sony intentionally cut its newspaper marketing spend to increase its digital activities, and the studio couldn’t be happier. Are newspapers a necessary advertising spend any more?

If The American Society Of Newspaper Editors Are So Proud Of Their Profession The How Come They Want To Drop The Word “Newspaper” From Their Title – What Kind Of Message Does That Send To The Public? --- Philip M. Stone April 4, 2007
The American Society of Newspaper Editors held their annual conference in Washington last week. But you wouldn’t necessarily have known that because they’ve changed their logo to read “ASNE – Leading America’s Newsrooms” and they seem now to be ashamed of the word “Newspaper”, even considering switching to the word “media” instead. Shame on them for even thinking of giving up the best generic brand in journalism!

Marketing Promotion: Media’s Blackhole --- Michael Hedges March 13, 2007
Tired of hearing about newspapers giving away DVDs and still losing circulation? Of course; their marketing people are about a generation behind the times.

It Looks Like The Business Side of Newspapers Is Finally Getting Its Act Together, Too --- Philip M. Stone - March 1, 2007
Perhaps the biggest complaint advertisers have against newspapers is how very difficult it is to actually do business with them. In the days of 20% plus margins that didn’t worry publishers so much – the money still rolled in – but today things are different and the business-side now has good reason to get its act together.

Can You Believe That The Times Of London Is Promoting Its Revamped Web Site With A Poster Showing A Well Endowed Lady’s Black Lace Bra Stuffed Full Of Cash? This Is The Times, Not The Sun! --- Philip M. Stone February 22, 2007
These are hard times at Rupert Murdoch’s Times Newspapers that owns the UKs Times and The Sunday Times, The two have reported a £80.7 million ($157 million, €120 million) loss for the last fiscal year, so apparently that means desperate measures for desperate Times.

Want To Sell More Newspapers In The UK? It’s Not The Journalism, Stupid, It’s The Free DVD, Cheap Holidays, And Discount Dining --- Philip M. Stone February 13, 2007
UK national newspapers had a good January, stemming the monthly downward circulation trend, but look closely and you’ll see it wasn’t the journalism that won the day but rather all those free DVDs and other promotions that ensured the New Year began with a really big bang, and not another whimper.

The OJ Simpson Book Reminded Americans Of Rupert Murdoch’s Sleazy US Tabloid Beginnings --- Philip Stone January 29, 2007
About once every year Rupert Murdoch makes a prominent speech outlining his vision of the media’s future. Last year he told American newspaper editors that they needed to embrace the Internet – and then he spent close to $1 billion buying web sites proving his point – and this year he has told media magnates that if their empires do not encompass multi-channels to pass on news and information then their business will die.

New Newspaper Marketing Tricks – Free Access To The WSJ Web Site To Those Who Buy The WSJE At Newsstands; Springer Starts Giving Away Welt Kompakt On Trains, And For Some, Being Displayed On Google News Is All Important --- Philip M. Stone January 17, 2007
The Wall Street Journal runs the largest paid-for news site on the web and has always condemned other news media for giving their news away. But convergence is the all-important buzzword these days and in an important new marketing twist newsstand buyers of the Wall Street Journal Europe (WSJE) newspaper are now being given free access to the web site just like subscribers.

Here’s A Lesson From The UK’s Sunday Times – Raise Your Cover Price To A New Industry High And Even The Most Loyal Readers Will Depart -- A 20p Increase in September Has So Far Cost It More Than 100,000 In Circulation --- Philip M. Stone January 15, 2007
Sticker shock can apply to a newspaper’s cover price as the UK’s Sunday Times has learned. The term got its start in the US when buyers looking at a new car’s price sticker in the auto showroom were shocked to see figures far higher than expected. Well, the Sunday Times raised its price in September to £2 ($3.90, €3), the highest in the UK, and the sticker shock has so far cost it more than 100,000 circulation.

If Only All Families Would Follow Arnold Swarzenegger’s Newspaper Philosophy: “We’re Teaching Our Kids To Read The Newspaper in the Morning.” --- Philip M. Stone November 16, 2006
California Governor Arnold Swarzenegger wants his kids addicted to newspapers. Now that’s one addiction we can all agree upon!

The Latest UK National Newspaper Audit Is Little Short Of A Disaster For the Paid-Fors And Either Their Giveaways Aren’t Helping Any More Or If It Weren’t For Them Who Knows How Really Bad It Might Have Been --- Philip M. Stone November 12, 2006
The Sunday Times raised its price to £2 and lost 37,376 subscribers (2.32%) over September although the accountants can make the case they’re still doing better from the price hike.

Less Than A Year Ago Rupert Murdoch said British Newspapers Had To Stop Giving Away DVDs, And Newspaper Cover Prices Were Too High. Today, The DVDs are Still Being Given Away And His Sunday Times is Britain’s first £2 Newspaper. --- Philip M. Stone October 5, 2006
Rupert Murdoch was adamant. “I personally hate this DVD (giveaway) craze.” That was last November and one would have thought Mr. Murdoch had the power to persuade his British executives to stop the practice in which News International is probably responsible for giving away more DVDs than anyone else in the UK. But still it goes on and on.

Record Operating Profit At News Corp., But Dig Deep Into The Results And At Newspapers, the Company's Traditional Foundation, Operating Income Was Down 30% --- Philip M. Stone August 10, 2006
Its news release headline put it best: “News Corporation Reports Record Full Year Operating Profit of $3.9 billion – Growth of 9% over Fiscal 2005”, but dig into the numbers and it’s obvious that newspapers are now just a small part of the empire, and their performance is worsening.

Newspapers Start To Produce Better Numbers From Their Print Operations, and Their Internet Activities Continue Amazing Growth, But Three Major Wall Street Analysts Say Its Way Too Early To Say The Worst Is Over --- Philip M. Stone June 19, 2006

News International Expands Its Print, Web, Mobile and New Magazine To Grow All Its Businesses In The UK --- Philip M. Stone in Moscow June 6, 2006
The good news coming from this year’s annual World Press Trends Report is that global newspaper sales still eked out some growth last year, and advertising sales continued strong in some areas, but the surge of readers to the Internet continues to have its affect, even in market-leader Asia.

Display and Classified Advertising Both Down 9%, Job Classifieds plunge 14%, Yet Half-Year Profits Increase 7% for the UKs DMGT. Has It Found The Secret To Growing A Traditional Media Business? --- Philip M. Stone May 29, 2006
Shareholders were delighted when the Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) announced profits increased by 7% with the dividend upped 7.5%, and the shares got a nice bounce in the market. Has this primarily newspaper group found the key to increased revenues that so many newspaper groups are seeking?

“We Are At The Dawn Of A Golden Age of Information – An Empire of New Knowledge” – Rupert Murdoch Who In The Same Speech Told Traditional Media To Basically “Change Or Die!” --- Philip Stone March 20, 2006
About once every year Rupert Murdoch makes a prominent speech outlining his vision of the media’s future. Last year he told American newspaper editors that they needed to embrace the Internet – and then he spent close to $1 billion buying web sites proving his point – and this year he has told media magnates that if their empires do not encompass multi-channels to pass on news and information then their business will die.

A Newspaper War In Geneva – Not Exactly the World’s Most Flamboyant Newspaper Market -- And Yet Two Major Publishing Houses Are Fighting for Supremacy in the Free Newspaper Arena --- Philip M. Stone March 15, 2006
The Tribune de Geneve was having a real problem. With no free newspapers in town, but with Geneva’s residents itching to get in on the “free” newspaper craze flowing across Europe it was just a natural to lift the unlocked lid of the honor boxes around town and take a newspaper (in the old days it wasn’t necessary to have locked boxes for the scrupulous Swiss would never think of stealing a newspaper – must now be the foreigners in town!) The situation got so bad that the newspaper devoted a couple of front pages to the fact it was not free, and it posted signs on its boxes declaring it was not free.

“What We Have Here Is A Failure to Communicate” -- No, Not Cool Hand Luke But The Daily Mail to Gannett And Others As The Northcliffe Regional Newspaper Group Is Taken Off the Table. --- Philip M. Stone February 20, 2006
When the Daily Mail and Trust Group (DMGT) put the Northcliffe regional newspapers up for sale last November they let it be known they were looking for numbers in the £1.5 billion range -- about 11 times the group’s annual cash flow and reflecting a prosperous well-run entity. What it got was numbers in the £1.2 – £1.3 billion range -- not quite fire sale figures but certainly taking into account the current soft UK regional newspaper advertising picture. Result: DMGT says it is keeping the newspapers after all.

The UK National Newspaper Market Is In Turmoil -- Circulation Is Down, The Daily Express Cuts Its Cover Price, Others Raise Theirs to Help Finance Disappointing Relaunches, The Financial Times Starts a Giveaway, And To Top It Off Americans Are Investing in Trinity-Mirror --- Philip M. Stone January 19, 2006
FTM really should have known better than to have declared recently that the UK Newspaper price wars were over because no publisher could afford them any more. Along comes Richard Desmond, publisher of the Daily Express, cutting its cover price from 40 pence to 30 pence while maintaining newsagent commissions payable on 40p. It is all said to cost him some £500.000 a week.

“When Will They Learn” – FTM in July Decrying the British Newspaper Marketing Practice of Giving Away DVDs. “ They’ve Got to Learn. That’s Got to Stop” – Rupert Murdoch, November, 2005 --- Philip M. Stone November 27, 2005
The very British newspaper marketing practice of giving away DVDs to boost circulation has now been damned by the publisher who probably is responsible for giving away more DVDs than any other. To Rupert Murdoch it just doesn’t make sense any more.

Circulation Increases Four Times As Fast As The Internet Is Growing – No, Don’t Get All Excited -- It’s Visitors to Newspaper Web Sites. On the Other Hand, Maybe That Is Something to Get Excited About! --- Philip M. Stone November 20, 2005
For all the really bad news about US newspaper circulation figures – down 1.2 million in the past six months – there was one piece of good news: the numbers show undeniably that newspaper web sites are the most frequently visited for news and information.

How Do You Get Kids to Spend Time Reading the Newspaper? --- Philip M. Stone March 30, 2005

Changing from Broadsheet to Tabloid Solves some Problems --- Philip M. Stone March 10, 2005

Sex, A Businessman Skewered by a Stiletto Heel, and a Pool of Blood --- Philip Stone December 2, 2004

UK Media Gang-Up On Murdoch – Oh What A Lovely War! --- Philip Stone October 13, 2010 (Follow on Twitter)
Getting British media to agree on anything is near impossible, but now newspapers ranging from the far right to the far left are united against a common enemy – Rupert Murdoch. And the referee in this fight is a decidedly uncomfortable coalition government that probably wishes the whole thing would just go away.

An Embarrassing Start For The New Wall Street Journal Europe Which Is A Pity Because It Is An Improved Read --- Philip M. Stone November 18, 2009 Follow on Twitter
The Wall Street Journal Europe relaunched Tuesday and overall it is a better read but day one put in focus a major timing problem – its top front page headline was outdated by early Monday evening let alone when it was read by its 85,000 or so subscribers Tuesday morning. Maybe the lesson there is to keep such a breaking news story off page one as did The International Herald Tribune or at least update that front page story with a one paragraph insert as did The Financial Times.

Can Reviews Be Trusted? --- Philip Stone March 3, 2010 Follow on Twitter
If you can’t trust those with whom you do business then do you continue doing business with them? The Tiger Woods fiasco shows what can happen when loss of trust means loss of endorsements, so when a Web review site gets hit with a lawsuit claiming extortion via selling advertising contracts in exchange for removing or hiding bad reviews then what happens to the trust factor with that site?