Sparse ads in the paper. Budgets to meet. Revenue to improve and expenses to keep in line.
Growing up at a newspaper is unlike any other business. Sure, TV and radio may have similarities, but the bulk of newspaper advertising disappears in the first quarter.
Look at a paper wherever you happen to be. The ads are probably few and far between during the first few days of the week. Only toward the weekend does volume pick up.
Trouble is, publishers and stock holders want to see day-over-day improvements compared to the previous year.
And, during the best of times, this was a stretch. These days, it’s down right damning to be an advertising executive or sales rep.
So, it’s not a huge surprise that Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, has extended its 2009 furlough program into the first quarter of 2010. In fact, I expected it. And, in full disclosure, I used to work for Gannett, until the layoffs of 2009.
But, furloughs are a temporary fix to a bigger problem.
Sure, they save the company (any company) money during the quarter in which they are exercised. But, in the end, it’s a Band-Aid.
If media companies would spend half the amount of time growing revenue as they do cutting expenses, life for the staff would be better.
You see, cutting expenses is like a drug. Once you start, you can’t stop. You just have to do more and more to achieve the same effect.
What’s going to happen later this year when the payroll savings achieved last year cycle and suddenly you have more expenses? Will revenue really have rebounded that much?
Industry watchdogs think 2010 may have a glimmer of hope. However, advertising executives I know are less than optimistic. They believe 2010 will be better than 2009, but that’s like saying you’d rather be a passenger on the Poseidon as opposed to the Titanic. Either one sucks.
Growing revenue is hard. Newspapers have done a not-so-great job in developing new products that customers actually want. We were late to the party on a bunch of things and still can’t get out of the starting gate with things like mobile.
And the trouble is – we don’t know how to admit we don’t know what we’re doing.
Look at the management at the newspaper where you work. Are they young hipsters? Are they happening? Or are they middle-aged and tired?
My guess is that they’re the latter and they’re worried because they don’t really understand this social networking thing or why mobile is THE force of the future.
I used to have a point I was going to make with these words, but after writing them realized that my point was made a long time ago.
So, let’s all raise a glass and welcome 2010 wherever you are. And, if you happen to see a sour-faced advertising executive, give them something to smile about.
It may be the only thing they have to smile about for a while.
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