Hasta La Ideas

In the mid-week edition of Kevin Roderick’s always informative compilation of LAObserved media notes, there was this factoid:

Monday’s print Los Angeles Times had just 32 pages, which a long-time watcher of the page count (a former editor) called the all-time low. There were few ads in the entire paper…

It’s not just Los Angeles of course that is dealing with this phenomenon. Across the country, the gradual demise of newsprint lingers in the summer air. For example, here is what 75-year-old Martha Stewart told Ad Age in an interview published the day after the Aug. 29 L.A. Times edition:

“A year ago I told someone it would be very hard for me to give up my daily New York Times. Because I really love reading my New York Times in the car. I now get up at 5 o’clock to read my New York Times online. Maybe it has do with politics and what’s going on, and maybe it’s why I can’t wait for the news in the car. But it certainly is a different world.”

Tronc suitor Gannett well understands where it is all going. Last month, they completed their acquisition of ReachLocal, a digital marketing services company that is expected to add hundreds of millions of dollars to 2017 digital revenues. And, in statements connected to the release of their 2016 second quarter earnings, Gannett cited as one of the risk factors ‘an accelerated decline in general print readership and/or advertiser patterns as a result of competitive alternative media or other factors.’

Image via: Los Angeles Times