Why print weather? And what about classifieds …
The St. Petersburg Times is redesigning its print product. Some of the changes , such as dropping stock listings, are inevitable. Some, such as merging metro and business are trendy, if misguided.
Some, to me, are just baffling. Why, for example, bring back color weather? The article says people asked for it. Readers want many things, but papers are trying to prioritize those wants. Why weather? Will anyone drop their subscription because the package shrinks or even disappears? I’m a weather fanatic, with a computerized weather station on one of my sheds, but I haven’t looked at a newspaper weather section in years. More than almost any other subject, weather is an arena in which papers can’t compete against TV, radio and the internet. Why to one of your weaknesses at the expense of things papers excel at (or could), such as local business coverage?
Why not drop weather and greatly expand business? It doesn’t even have to be expensive coverage. Lists of new businesses, property sales, promotions, etc., are valuable to people, can add dozens of local names to the paper and can be compiled by clerks. TV stations aren’t going to do that, but they’ll happily kick your butt with their weather coverage, so papers lose in both regards.
And if times are as bad as newspapers suggest, maybe it’s time for some radical ideas. Here’s the most radical I can think of: What about eliminating some print classified content? When you think about, papers are already “benefiting” if you can call it that, from reduced newsprint costs because classified sections are shrinking.
Why not try to turn that to your advantage? Why not convert large chunks of classifieds to free, online only ads? Why not fight back against CraigsList instead of meekly letting it claw you to death? You can still charge for upsells to print, perhaps at a hefty premium if you’re lucky. Maybe you can print all classifieds twice a week, for example, instead of every day, or print all car ads one day, all real estate another, all garage sales another, etc.
Rethinking classifieds might well seem like potential suicide for a newspaper.
But doing the same old same old is guaranteed suicide.
Tags: Classifieds
