Worry about sales reigns among those
responsible for revenue at area media outlets.
"This is the most challenging time for forecasting,"
says John Murphy, general manager,
Reno News and Review in Reno."I'm planning
for what we feel will be the worst, but that doesn't
mean I expect that."
Lawson Fox, general manager at KTVN
Channel 2, says,"The marketplace is challenging.
Base categories like autos and casinos are
struggling."
At newspapers, says Nevada Press
Association Executive Director Barry Smith in
Carson City,"Paid circulation has dropped and
continues to drop but readership is higher than
ever online.However advertising on the
Internet has not kept pace price wise, and
yields a lesser margin."
The problem in a nutshell for publishers:
"They can't charge as much," says Smith.
Newspapers are hurt, too, by weakness in
classified advertising for real estate, employment
and autos. Some of that business has
migrated on-line. Some of it vaporized when
the economy stalled.
Arne Hoel, chief executive officer of Swift
Communications in Reno, says,"Our newspapers
have been impacted most significantly in
the classified revenue segment. The current climate
is difficult for media and most folks in
any branch of the media industry have not seen
advertising expenditures decline like this during
their careers."
Making things yet more difficult, says
Murphy,"In the newspaper business,margins
are even slimmer than in retail."
To take up the income slack, Smith says
most papers have added a multitude of publications
targeted to narrower markets.
"That's how revenues have kept pace," he
says."For instance, the Las Vegas Review
Journal has 30 niche publications."
Meanwhile, the Internet is bringing about
structural changes to all media, says Hoel.
"This creates new opportunities and our
company will continue to explore new technology
and niches to bring consumers and advertisers
together.Because technology continues to
change rapidly, the newspaper industry has to
be willing to do the same."
KTVN's Fox, for instance, says Web site visits
spike dramatically during times of breaking
news such as earthquakes, blizzards and fires.
Murphy agrees with the need for new
thinking.
"Hard economic times force business to
reevaluate their marketing
plans, to seek new opportunities,"
says the News and
Review general manager.
And it's no longer enough,
he says,merely to sell ads.
"Our sales people,when they
go out, know their job is to
help customers think in new
ways."
Murphy expects Web site
revenues to post a modest 10
percent growth in 2009.
"But newspaper will continue
to be our main focus,"
he says."Unlike some of the
major national chains, which
are neglecting the paper product
in favor of the online edition."
Another new technology
is digital TV. But it's expected to arrive with a
ripple, not a splash, in February.
"With set prices dropping, people are
adapting quickly," says Fox."Only 6 percent
haven't done anything to prepare for the conversion."
Broadcast media enjoyed a spike in ad revenue
last year due to the flurry of election year
political ads. But Fox says of the election year
comedown,"We plan for it every two years; the
business plan doesn't count on an election
spike."
Overall, says Murphy,"I have a sense of
optimism for the local economy, except for
gaming and tourism, which may not have seen
their worst days."
