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| READERS FLEE: The Record of Woodland Park and the Hackensack Chronicle, a weekly that reprints stories and other material from the once-great daily newspaper. |
How low can circulation,
ad revenue go before
Gannett folds print edition?
ad revenue go before
Gannett folds print edition?
Editor's note: At the end of this post, I've added a link to my July 2016 report on how the Borgs took Gannett's money and ran.
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Record of Woodland Park and NorthJersey.com have slipped to 9th place among Gannett Co.'s major publications and digital platforms.
In 2016, the year the Borg family sold them to Gannett, the once-great daily newspaper and its website were listed 3rd (in readership or circulation) after USA Today and the Detroit Free Press, according to the annual report issued in April 2017.
The 2019 annual report released on April 18 lists circulation or readership of The Record and NorthJersey.com as 52,623 daily and 70,682 on Sunday.
That's a decline of 16,oo7 daily and 19,670 on Sunday from circulation figures listed for the print edition and website -- 68,630 daily and 90,352 Sunday -- in the 2018 annual report.
At the end of 2016, the combined circulation or readership was listed as 235,681 daily and 147,609 Sunday.
With daily readership in 2019 less than a quarter of what it was in 2016, and with Sunday circulation at less than half of the original, further losses in revenue might prompt Gannett to fold the print edition.
A drastic decline in local news, and the decision in 2019 to limit some digital access to subscribers likely are factors in the plummeting readership.
Ad revenue sinks
The amount of circulation is the primary factor in the pricing of advertising space, meaning Gannett likely has had to reduce how much it charges for ads in The Record and on NorthJersey.com.
Print advertising alone accounted for about 37% of "our total revenue" nationwide as of Dec. 31, 2019, according to Gannett.
"Additionally, brick-and-mortar businesses are significant consumers of print advertising and with the rise of digital commerce many of these types of businesses have -- and continue to -- close retail outlets, which adversely affects the demand for print advertising," the 2019 annual report says.
10 N.J. dailies
Many of the department stores, restaurants and other businesses that Gannett has relied on for advertising revenue have been shuttered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2019 annual report says Gannett owns 10 daily newspapers in New Jersey, 6 weeklies and 2 production facilities.
Gannett lists the total number of its local media organizations in 46 states and on Guam as 261 daily newspapers and 302 weeklies, plus 72 production facilities.
More layoffs
On April 27, the New Jersey Globe reported The Record "axed" Editorial Page Editor Bruce Lowry, calling him "the latest casualty in layoffs occurring throughout the Gannett organization."
"The move comes four weeks after Gannett began furloughing employees due to the economic effects of the deadly coronavirus," wrote New Jersey Globe Editor David Wildstein, who referred to the paper as the "Bergen Record."
As an executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Wildstein was a key figure in the Bridgegate scandal during the administration of Chris Christie, the worst governor in New Jersey history.
Wildstein's New Jersey Globe reported "Gannett Statehouse bureau chief John McAlpin is on furlough this week, along with columnist Charles Stile and reporter Ashley Balcerzak."
More from Wildstein
"That's 3/5s of Gannett NJ's Statehouse idled at home when people want and need information the most," tweeted Bergen Record reporter Dustin Racioppi.
"Jennifer Jean Miller, who broke a huge story this month about 17 bodies being found at the Andover Subacute facility was laid off from her job as a reporter for the Gannett-owned New Jersey Herald," the Globe said.
"Other Gannett New Jersey reporters have also lost their jobs over the last three days," the Globe's April 27 report said, "including one journalist who is pregnant with a due date in the next two weeks."
"Dan Sforza, the executive editor of The Record, has not replied to four direct messages seeking comment on Gannett layoffs...."
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| MOUND OF DIRT: The Borg family retained ownership of nearly 20 acres along River Street in Hackensack, where The Record's old headquarters gave way to many big mounds of dirt, foreground. The Borgs' plan to build luxury apartments and work on other apartment projects on Main Street have been suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. |
GateHouse and Gannett
Last summer, Wildstein reported, GateHouse Media acquired Gannett for $12.06 a share.
"The deal was structured to include a massive debt that would require hundreds of millions in cuts to pay back a $1.2 billion loan that was part of the deal to keep them afloat," he said, adding Gannett stock plummeted to 64 cents almost three weeks ago, "signaling immense problems ahead for the company.
"The stock is currently trading at 78 cents a share," Wildstein's Globe reported on April 27.
Read: NorthJersey.com limits
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