PLACING ADS ON PAGE ONE

By: Lucia Moses Gannett Leads Advertising Trend





With constant pressure to grow revenue, more ad directors are looking at

their newspapers' front pages and seeing dollar signs.



Since USA Today began running one-inch strip ads across the bottom

of Page One a year ago, a number of newspapers have headed in that

direction, often testing the waters with section-front ads.



Many are owned by USA Today parent Gannett Co. Inc., which gives its

98 community papers the option of running front-page ads.



At Gannett's Palm Springs, Calif., Desert Sun, section-front ads

launched Oct. 19 have been well-received, Advertising Director Dar Brown

said. The paper plans to take them to Page One in January. "It's long been

asked for by advertisers," she said. "I think you'll see a lot of

newspapers take it on."



Section-front ads, possible precursors to front-page ads, began this summer

at Belo's The Dallas Morning News. "Right now, we're looking at

imaginative ways to grow our revenues and still exist within the framework

of our values and principles," said President and General Manager Robert W.

Mong Jr., acknowledging journalists' historical opposition to front-page

ads.



Ad directors say advertisers are willing to pay premiums for the position.



"I think companies are looking at any way they can to differentiate

themselves in the marketplace," said Stan Howard, advertising director for

the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star, which has run Page One ads

since February.



With its national reach, USA Today said it has a waiting list for

the coveted Page One spot. But papers in smaller markets may have a more

difficult time.



At the Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen, section-front ads aren't

selling as fast as expected, Publisher Michael Chihak said. "I think

probably there's a lot of work to be done on the marketing and sales side ?

trying to figure out what it's worth," he said.



Page One ads are far from unusual today. The Northwestern University Media

Management Center's Steven Duke looked at about 100 papers a year ago and

found that about 12% ran front-page ads. Ads might start appearing on more

front pages as papers look for ways to offset rising newsprint and

health-care costs, said Michael Smith, the center's managing director.







Lucia Moses (lmoses@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor covering

business for E&P.







Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher.