News Outlets Win Audiences Yet Lose Revenue

Web traffic is up about 30% among the top news sites and has doubled for some publishers, according to data from comScore Inc. Many news sites have recorded solid gains in digital subscriptions, even as many have made coronavirus coverage available to nonsubscribers.

But the Wall Street journal reports, the immediate boost in readership won’t offset the virus’ brutal impact on the pillars holding up the business, publishing executives say. Local advertising spending could tumble this year by at least a quarter, amounting to a decline of more than $30 billion, according to one estimate.

The new coronavirus crisis could become a cruel test of whether newsrooms can survive on digital revenue.

“It may turn out that the impact of the virus on local newspapers is analogous to its effects on people,” said Jim Friedlich, the executive director of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. “The most vulnerable may not survive.”

The Tampa Bay Times, which is owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute, this week laid off 11 staffers just weeks after instituting an across-the-board pay cut. Paul Tash, the Times’ chairman and chief executive, said the paper had already seen its event-related advertising disappear and has had inquiries from big retailers about canceling future advertising.

Gordon Borrell, an advertising market analyst, estimates that local advertising will drop by 25% this year, as restaurants, bars and other local businesses shutter temporarily and pull back spending.

Cartoon by Daryl Cagle (https://www.cagle.com/)

The Boston Globe has moved aggressively to offer potentially lifesaving information specific to its community, like an infographic showing how a cluster of coronavirus infections that began at an area biotech conference in late February was spreading, leading to a significant portion of Massachusetts’ more than 300 cases.

The Globe’s web traffic shot up 140% in the seven-day stretch through March 16. The paper hasn’t made all its coronavirus coverage free, and its digital-subscription orders have more than tripled during that week compared with a year earlier, according to the company. That brings the Globe’s total number of digital subscribers to more than 170,000, up from 111,000 about a year ago.

However, the Globe has been heavily discounting subscriptions with introductory offers as low as six months for $1.

The Globe has been hammered on newsstand, or “single copy,” sales, which represent 13% of the company’s circulation revenue, or about $20 million a year, according to Globe President Vinay Mehra.

Digital subscriptions across Gannett’s more than 100 local news outlets where data was available are up 72% over the past week, compared with a year earlier, according to Amalie Nash, Gannett’s vice president for local news. Still, the company’s stock has tumbled nearly 80% since the market’s peak in mid-February.