By: Jennifer Saba Gannett is experiencing a "good yield" on the USA Today price increase to $.75, instituted Sept. 7.
Douglas McCorkindale, chairman, president, and CEO of the publishing company, told investors and analysts this morning that losses from the price increase were "not as high as anticipated" and that the reduction in single-copy sales was less than executives expected.
For Q4, circulation at the national paper was up roughly 1%, to about 2.3 million copies, compared to the same period last year.
Advertising revenues at the paper, however, dropped 5.3% in Q4. Paid advertising pages totaled 1,315, compared with 1,580 for the same quarter in 2003. For the entire year, advertising revenue at USA Today rose 6.6% and paid pages totaled 4,763, down 3.2%.
For Q4 the paper experienced drops in such categories as travel, down in the mid single digits; auto, down in the low teens; technology, down in the mid teens; and telecom, which was down more dramatically. Retail and entertainment were two categories that experienced gains.
McCorkindale said that January is turning out "OK" for the paper (and for the company at large). He expects 2005 to be a ?solid year? for the company with positive (but uneven) revenue growth.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here