Apr 18, 2010

The newspaper death tax

Alan Mutter tried to buy obituary space in the San Francisco Chronicle and learned that it would cost $450 "for the one-day run of a crappy-looking, 182-word death notice." This kind of gouging is a disservice to the community and to the paper, he writes:
This practice is not only exploitive, but also strategically tone deaf, because it misses a terrific opportunity to cement reader loyalty to a newspaper.

Every country editor knows that names make news. Birth announcements, wedding announcements and death notices are the only ways most people ever get their names in the newspaper, an event that remains a big deal to all but the most jaded individuals. ...

While metros can’t fill their shrinking news holes with every birth, wedding or funeral, they can offer people a free place on their websites to self-chronicle the comings and goings of their families.

The full post is here.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Newspapers have been gouging groups of clients for years. Death notices are one example where they have had you by the nads. Now there are alternatives. In true newspaper fashion, instead of developing a rate that encourages more customers to place ads and heaven forbid, buy a newspaper, they continue to expect the consumer to pay through the nose to inform that someone has died. And, newspaper "executives" wonder what is going on with their revenue.

Anonymous said...

In the near future, newspapers won't even have obits.

Anonymous said...

Just like their classified advertising business, going, going, gone. What does it take to understand that the print pricing model is dead and gone. Reduce the unrealistic margin and increase your bottom line performance. Better to make ten percent of a number and grow the business than ninety percent of the cost of a few ads.

Anonymous said...

I for one would like to know how newspapers plan on making money in the future. Let's take a look at Singleton's SOCAL chain. When legal advertising disappears, obits are priced out of the market and go to the web, local advertising goes away, and national for small papers disappears too, what will drive revenue? It won't be the web...they haven't a thing to offer. Coverage local is history and circulation is going fast. Where will the money come from?