Gannett’s Spin-Off, Hearst’s Acquisition Targets, Digital Launches at Trinity Mirror, the Tribune’s New Subscription Model, DPS Tip: Scheduled Background Downloads, TFP’s Infographic Pick of the Week
Welcome to TFP’s roundup of news and tips for media industry pros! This week, we’re sharing stories about Gannett’s print spin-off, what Hearst has designs on, Trinity Mirror’s approach to digital, the Tribune’s new subscription model, and more.
Following similar moves by other industry giants, USA Today publisher Gannett announced that it’s spinning off print from its broadcasting and other media operations. According to The New Times, a primary aim among publishers is to free growing businesses like broadcasting and digital media from struggling newspapers and magazines. The company also announced it’s buying remaining ownership (72%) of Cars.com for $1.8 billion, significantly boosting its digital assets.- At Hearst, print is still king, at least when it comes to acquisitions. David Carey, president of the company’s magazine publishing group, said in an interview with CNBC that although digital is outpacing print, he’d be more interested in buying print magazines over digital assets because the latter typically have a smaller base and the companies for sale often aren’t producing profits. “It’s hard for us to pay $200 million for properties that don’t make money,” he said, noting that Hearst is instead focused on growing its digital revenue through internal projects.
- That’s similar to the approach British news group Trinity Mirror is taking. Last year the chain began launching experimental sites and features outside of its traditional organizational structure, resulting in significant growth in digital traffic and revenue, said a report from Gigaom. The key to success? Use small teams, make it quick, and be prepared to kill whatever isn’t working fast.
- Meanwhile, with the spin-off of its newspaper publishing business complete, the Tribune is hoping to beef up its digital revenues with a new subscription model that replaces its metered paywall with a “premium content” area, according to an article from Digiday. For $14.96 per month, readers get access to content from columnists, archives and investigative reporting.
- In this week’s DPS Tip, we look at how push notification features in the DPS Dashboard add more scheduling and communication capabilities.
- To help you make your digital content more appealing, our Infographic Pick of the Week from Sushi Digital lists five things to check before publishing your blog post.
Our This Week in Publishing blog and newsletter will be on hiatus next week. We’ll be back with our roundup of news and tips on Aug. 22.
Photo: Evan Eile, USA Today
This Week in Publishing appears every Friday on the TFP blog. Every week we compile interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world and put together a wrap-up to help our readers stay up-to-date. Think we missed something great? Leave a comment below and let us know!
Posted by: Monica Sambataro
