Syn Biz: An Economic Update

By: Dave Astor Editor's note: Dave Astor was assigned to non-syndication coverage last week, so a Sept. 17 "Syndicate World" will not appear. The Sept. 24 column will focus on how syndicates, news services, cartoonists, and columnists responded to the World Trade Center disaster.

This spring, syndicates and supplemental news services reported that they were affected somewhat by the faltering economy (E&P Online, May 21). Nearly four months later, the still-sputtering economy has -- not surprisingly -- made a little bigger dent.

"Summers are always slower, but it's been a slower summer than usual," said Lisa Klem Wilson, vice president for sales and marketing at United Media.

This has been the case not only at United. While most declined to give specific figures, several syndicates and supplementals said they have launched fewer features, received more cancellation notices from customers, lowered the rates for certain clients, and made at least minor reductions in staff.

Copley News Service is one company that has temporarily stopped offering new features. "Our salespeople were getting a lot of calls from newspapers saying, `We wish we could afford that, but we're not adding anything,'" said Copley Editorial Director Glenda Winders.

"Newsroom budgets are being squeezed, and as a result it is difficult to introduce new features," agreed Cristian Edwards, executive vice president of New York Times Syndication Sales (NYTSS), parent of the New York Times News Service and the New York Times Syndicate. But Edwards noted that NYTSS did launch several offerings this year, and is getting "some new business" for them.

Charter Lists Not As Big As Before

Syndicates adding features might find that initial client lists are smaller. Wilson said papers these days might buy a new comic only if they're going to run it, not just to keep it away from a competitor.

Some established features at various syndicates are losing newspaper clients, too. "Text features are the most vulnerable," said Wilson, with one reason being that many of them (unlike comics) aren't "anchored" on the same page every day. So it's easier for papers to cancel them.

In some recent cases, syndicates have dropped established features after their client lists decreased. This happened to "WorkWise" columnist Mildred Culp, formerly of Universal Press Syndicate and now with her own Passage Media, who is convinced the economic downturn caused some papers to cancel her column. "I did not have one person tell me that the column wasn't good," she said.

Frequent -- and famous -- columns fare somewhat better than other text features. "You're always going to have Ann and Abby and Miss Manners hold up," observed United?s Wilson.

It Pays To Have Package Offerings

Wilson added that supplementals, as well as syndicates such as United's Newspaper Enterprise Association, tend to fare better in tough economic times because their package offerings give newspapers a lot for the money.

"People are on a limited budget now, and what we have is an all-you-can-eat buffet," said Peter Copeland, editor and general manager of Scripps Howard News Service, which now offers nearly 100 columns as part of its wire.

Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service President Al Leeds reported that only five of LAT-WP's 400 domestic clients (it also has about 260 customers abroad) have given written notice this year that they want to cancel. "Editors do feel we're a good buy, for a fraction of the cost of a reporter," he said.

In some cases, news services and syndicates have given clients price breaks, which can prevent cancellations but decrease the distributor's bottom line. Copley's Winders did say she's had good experiences with newspapers voluntarily going back to higher rates when they're ready to pay them again.

Different pricing levels can also work. NYTSS' Edwards said the recently launched nytimages.com Web site offers clients the option of buying packages with a limited number of photos and graphics at a discount off the full service rate.

Staffing Stays Relatively Steady

Several syndicates laid off people during the 1990s, so there hasn't been a need for many staff cuts this year. But at least a couple of places -- including NYTSS and Tribune Media Services -- offered some employees buyouts this year as part of reductions mandated by their parent companies. Also, United has opted to not yet fill a position that became open when someone retired.

There is still some hiring here and there. Copley recently added its own online sales staffer after the dot-com crash hurt the business of Web aggregators (such as iSyndicate) whose roster of content providers included Copley and other print syndicates.

Web-site interest in buying syndicated features is decidedly mixed these days. "[Online] sales are steady to slowing," said Universal President Robert Duffy.

Syndicates are also getting fewer ads on their Web sites, including United's comics.com, although Wilson said traffic levels are healthy.

And there are fewer ads for newspaper tech sections, which caused a number of papers to eliminate these sections. Even if there are a couple of tech pages in another section, there's a lot less space for syndicated features that cover this area.

But Culp said syndicates still need to diversify into the Web and other areas to succeed in the long run. The columnist noted that she's now selling to intranet and wireless customers.

Although syndicates and news services undoubtedly have been affected by the economy, tough times have at least some silver linings for these distributors. Duffy observed that newspapers might "find it more cost-effective to hire talent from syndicates than hire the talent as paid staffers" -- though Wilson did note that some papers see things in reverse: "They feel more comfortable canceling a feature than a person."

But everyone interviewed emphasized that a strong economy is ultimately the best thing for syndicates and supplementals -- as well as their clients. "In good times, everyone does well," said Wilson.

Will the good times return? "We're optimistic about the future," said Duffy. "Slumps come and go, but newspapers always seem to pull out ahead."

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GOWN DEBUTS; LAWRENCE BACK
`For Better Or For Worse' In The News

"For Better or For Worse" is in the news, for better or for worse.

The better news for Lynn Johnston is that real-life bridal-gown designer Romona Keveza has created a custom wedding dress for cartoon character Deanna Sobinski, who will marry Michael Patterson in the Sept. 15 episode of Johnston?s comic.

The worse news is that about two dozen (mostly smaller) "For Better" clients requested alternate strips for the Sept. 6-8 installments that featured Michael's gay friend Lawrence, who will be best man at the wedding. It was uncertain at E&P Online's deadline how many of the newspapers would actually use the alternative strips. There were no cancellations, according to United Media Executive Director of Public Relations Mary Anne Grimes.

Johnston received a number of cancellations and lots of hate mail when she first introduced Lawrence back in 1993.

Many of Johnston's 2,000 other newspaper clients told United they liked the Sept. 6-8 sequence.

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KRT LAUNCHES TWO COLUMNS
One Focuses On Women At Work

Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services (KRT) has introduced a weekly Q-and-A column geared toward women in the workplace. It's by Leslie Whitaker and Elizabeth Austin, authors of "The Good Girl's Guide to Negotiating."

Also, KRT added an Op-Ed column by Peter Brown of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel.

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'GRAYING,' 'FOOD' WITH SHNS
News Service Starts Two Columns

Scripps Howard News Service (SHNS) is adding a column called "Graying of America" by Dr. Donald Kausler, who has authored seven books.

SHNS is also offering "Ask Food Network," a weekly Q-and-A column from TV's Food Network.

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NEW COLUMN WITH A 'TWIST'
Syndicate Introduces Sports Feature

The New York Times Syndicate has introduced "This Week in Sports Trivia" (TWIST) by Eric Corwin.