Bolstered by political campaigns and the Summer Olympic Games, spending on advertising in the U.S. is expected to increase 7.8% in 2004 to $138.4 billion, according to a forecast released Thursday by the leading tracker of ad spending.
Some Cincinnati police officers claimed to be in two places at once so they could double-bill the city and the public housing authority, Leslie Blade reported in CityBeat on Dec. 10. Now the Cincinnati City Council wants to ask her questions about the scandal so badly it voted 5-4 last week to subpoena her. CityBeat Editor/Co-Publisher John Fox criticizes the decision to make a journalist an investigative tool of government.
After serving as associate publisher of the Springfield, Ill., newsweekly for the past 18 months, during which time she oversaw the paper's Web site debut and redesign, Whalen replaces Fletcher Farrar as the Times' publisher. She also becomes part owner of the paper along with Farrar and his wife, Mary Jessup. Farrar, president of the weekly's parent company, Central Illinois Communications, says Whalen "not only understands how to serve advertisers and keep the business side running, she also has a passion for the news and editorial side of our business."
Two of the main rep firms for alternative newsweeklies had significant gains in national advertising in 2003, E&P reports following an announcement by AAN today. The Ruxton Group, which represents 28 newsweeklies, experienced a 17 percent increase over 2002. Alternative Weekly Network, which represents more than 100 newsweeklies, had a 6 percent increase in national sales over 2002.
The ongoing audience and advertiser erosion in broadcast network television will accelerate this year, as consumers shift more of their time and money to other technologies and media, and as more ad dollars migrate to cable. Television-driven media concerns will continue to refute these permanent, dramatic changes as a fluke even as it eats through their bottom line. That is the troubled picture the Morgan Stanley media research team painted in a client call and corresponding report this week that mirrors many of the ongoing concerns and prognostications I have written about in this newsletter during the past year.
Haunted by what he witnessed from the roof of his building near the World Trade Center on 9/11, Russ Smith sold his upstart weekly, New York Press, and moved his family to Baltimore. He has disparaged the city where he once edited Baltimore City Paper as "Tinytown," but old friends say he has a strange way of showing his affection. Former City Paper staff writer Michael Anft offers an in-depth look at the man who now writes a conservative column for the Baltimore weekly he once owned. Smith has said that "if you wanted to find a list of his enemies, all you had to do was pick up the Baltimore white pages," Anft says.
Online recruitment advertising hit $3.1 billion last year, with Monster.com and Yahoo! leading the way. But a new study out from Borrell Associates said newspaper-operated Web sites are poised for significant growth in the sector.
The juggernaut of online dating services, Match.com, is trying to bring its members into even closer virtual contact by incorporating an old-fashioned device: the telephone.
