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The New York Times Company is Making Changes

vassallo — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 22:13:15 +0000

Things are always changing in the world and The New York Times Company is right up there with changes. It plans to sell its Regional Media group to Halifax Media Holdings. Halifax will pay 143 million dollars in cold hard cash. This consists of 16 regional papers that include popular ones like the Tuscaloosa News. The deal won’t take too long to establish itself and the company hopes to have it complete in the next couple of weeks. After taxes are paid, then the company hopes to bring home around a profit of 150 million dollars.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr. who is the chairman of the New York Times Company states that “as trusted institutions in their communities, delivering news and information that matter most to their readers.” Mr. Sulzberger added that the group’s sale “will enable The New York Times Company to continue our transformation to a digitally focused, multiplatform media company.”

It’s important for the company to focus on certain aspects of the company and it can do this by making this sale. In March, the company plans to do a digital edition of their newspaper. In the statement, Michael Redding, chief executive officer of Halifax Media, said: “The purchase of the Regional Media Group reflects Halifax Media’s belief that a good newspaper is an essential part of any vibrant community. The strong local news coverage these papers provide represents not only an important community service, but, in our eyes, a good investment.”

Mr. Redding added that the company was “impressed with the newspapers’ reputations as well as the markets they serve.” Ken Doctor, a media and publishing analyst at Outsell Inc., said “the move would allow the Times Company to focus on its flagship brand, The New York Times, and decide what it wanted to do with The Boston Globe.” Mr. Doctor described the sale price for the regional papers as “incredibly low. That’s saying basically each title is worth about $10 million” on average, he said, “which is just breathtaking when you consider what kinds of profit machines these newspapers used to be.”

Most people consider this to be a great move for the company and a great opportunity for Halifax. Of course, some of this comes with scrutiny from other companies but the ultimate decision is from The New York Times. Things are moving forward and the company is excited to see where things go from here. With most things going to digital media, it’s important to be prepared for what lies ahead. If anything, The New York Times is thinking ahead and making a move that could save them millions of dollars later. Everyone has their opinion but in the end, all the matters is the opinion of the people of the company and what they decide to do with the sales.

Newspaper Publishers Move to Digital Advertising

vassallo — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:45:46 +0000

Newspapers are struggling in the United States and people do not have to look far to find out why this is happening. Newspapers began struggling when the internet exploded with news websites, social media websites, and blogs in the early 2000s. Newspapers started struggling even more when smartphones were released, because people on the go can access news from their phone at any time of the day. Since newspapers were struggling, their advertising sales also began to struggle, which forced the newspaper publishers to hit the internet in an effort to keep their heads above water.

“The whole industry is looking to digital advertising to recover its fortunes. The future is digital, not print,” Benchmark analyst Edward Atorino told Reuters.

McClatchy, the publisher of The Miami Herald and the Sacramento Bee, is expecting its digital ad revenue to climb above $190 million. For McClatchy, digital advertising makes up about 20 percent of its advertising revenue.

“As we look ahead to 2012, we have limited visibility but will work hard to maintain our ad revenue momentum. We’re adding digital sales staff and expanding our sales training,” McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt said at a UBS Conference in New York.

McClatchy has also invested in Classified Ventures, which owns the websites of Cars.com and Apartments.com and job site CareerBuilder.

“We are especially pleased with the performance of our Internet investments — these companies provide important products to our newspaper websites and are strategic partners in our digital success,” Pruitt said.

The Tampa Tribune and the Winston-Salem Journal are published by Media General. Media General also owns WFLA-TV and expects its revenue from local media websites to increase by 15 percent to around $33 million in 2011.

Media General acquires six percent of its total revenue from digital media and is expecting its internet partnership revenue to grow by 12 percent to $11.6 million in 2011.

“As our business continues its shift to digital, we will continue to respond to the ongoing changes in the packaging and delivery of news and information by creating new revenue streams from multiple sources, including increased content revenues,” Media General CEO Marshall Morton said at the conference.

The company of Media General estimated that its 2012 capital expenditures will hit $23-$25 million. The reason for the growth in revenue will be the advertising for the Super Bowl, the Presidential election, and the Summer Olympics. The company was created before the Civil War, and has announced that it will start charging for online local content from seven of its papers before 2011 ends.

The company also announced that it will finish its plans for The Tampa Tribune, which has struggled over the past five years in a rough Florida economy. The final plans could result in the loss of jobs at the paper.

Roast of Charlie Sheen vs. 2.5 Men

AdvertisingCrossing — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:54:21 +0000

This article writes about Charlie Sheen’s return to the small screen on Monday night. Comedy Central will be having a Roast of Charlie Sheen on the same night that “Two and a Half Men” returns with Charlie’s replacement, Ashton Kutcher. Let’s see who says “Winning” after the ratings come in.

Read the original article here:

Winning? Comedy Central Plans Roast of Charlie Sheen

Seattle’s HL2 Closes Up Shop

daniel — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:11:38 +0000

Seattle-based advertising company HL2 has gone out of business after more than 15 years, according to a report in the Puget Sound Business Journal.

The company, which was formerly known as Horton Lantz & Low, had lost major clients in recent months and the tough economic climate made it difficult to borrow more money in order to stay afloat. It closed its doors on Monday.

HL2 had about 40 employees and 25 of those workers were immediately hired by digital marketing agency Ascentium, a competitor, HL2 founding partner and CEO Tom Horton told the Business Journal.

Pearson Partners Closing Doors After 33 Years

daniel — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:59:01 +0000

Longtime Indianapolis, Ind. ad agency Pearson Partners Inc. is closing after 33 years, according to a report in the Indianapolis Business Journal. About a dozen workers will be left without a job.

The agency apparently is another victim of the tough economic times. President and CEO Ron Pearson told the paper “we’ve struggled through the recession” and that the decision to close shop was made after cutting and eliminating budgets.

Pearson, who announced the decision in an e-mail Friday, said the agency has more than 30 clients and many of them are being referred to nearby Hetrick advertising and public relations agency.

Pearson will keep a crew of three intact for another week or two to tie up loose ends.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty to Decimate UK Staff

erik — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:28:15 +0000

Advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty will lay off 10% of its staff in the United Kingdom. The firm blames the decline in ad spending.

The redundancies will target 40 people at the firm’s 400-person London office. Earlier this year, the agency slashed salaries by 3.5%.

BBH counts British Airways, Barclays Bank and Audi amongst its clients.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty was founded by John Bartle, Nigel Bogle & John Hegarty in 1982. In 1997, Leo Burnett Worldwide purchased a 49% share in BBH; that share is now held by the Publicis advertising group. It has six offices worldwide – London, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, São Paulo and Shanghai, plus an “office” in Second Life. It employs more than 800 staff globally.

Kolar Lays Off 19 Employees

erik — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:18:37 +0000

Kolar Advertising has laid off employees for the first time in its 20-year history. Nineteen of the firm’s 89 employees have been laid off.

Those laid off are getting a severance package and outplacement.

Two of Kolar’s major clients, the US Army and 3M, have cut back on ad and marketing spending.

Founded in 1989, Kolar is the fifth-largest advertising agency in Austin, Texas.

CCO Wilson Leaves Dentsu America

erik — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:12:06 +0000

Dentsu America has confirmed that Mike Wilson has left the firm. He was Chief Creative Officer and an executive vice president.

Wilson joined the firm in December 2006. No reason was given for his departure.

Wilson was previously a group creative director at Ogilvy & Mather. Creative directors Paul Laffy and Bruno Corbo, also previously at Ogilvy, will take over for Wilson as co-lead creative directors.

Founded in 1901, Dentsu is one of the largest advertising agency brands in the world. Its headquarters are located in Tokyo.

Manhattan’s Horn Corp. Gives Office Space to Unemployed Ad Workers

erik — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:42:17 +0000

Manhattan ad agency The Horn Corp. is offering free office space to unemployed advertising pros looking for work.

Each day a small crowd of grateful people works out of their office on their laptops, sending out resumes. The job-searchers have formed a small community, helping each other chase down job leads.

Agency honcho Ariel Horn brainstorms with the job-seekers, discussing possible projects. If Horn likes an idea, he may pursue it with his firm — and hire the person who came up with the idea.

The Horn Corp is a full-scale marketing and media agency based in New York City.

Feds: Ad Agencies Lost 24,100 Jobs in Recession

erik — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:38:22 +0000

According to information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the US Department of Labor, the nation’s advertising agencies have lost 24,100 jobs since the recession began last year.

Advertising Age used the government numbers to determine that, factoring in all advertising related media jobs, the total job loss for the period is 65,100.

According to BNET, the following ad agencies have lost more than 100 employees: Campbell-Ewald, Ogilvy Group North America, BBDO North America, Valassis Communications, BBDO Detroit, Spot Runner, and Doner Advertising.