Income from advertising circulars was among the few bright spots in the Los Angeles Times’ latest monthly revenue report, and a recent national consumer survey gives one indication why.
An annual survey conducted by Baltimore-based marketing firm Vertis Inc. said that four out of five of the 3,000 consumers questioned read the glossy inserts that pack their Sunday paper, and use the ads to help decide where they shop and what to buy.
The study indicates that insert readership levels are consistently at 85 percent or above, even among Internet savvy consumers. Around 88 percent of Sunday newspaper readers surveyed via the Internet said they read Sunday newspaper inserts, compared with 79 percent of those surveyed by phone.
Additionally, around 52 percent of those surveyed by phone and 71 percent of those surveyed via the Web said they use the inserts to decide where they buy groceries.
The Tribune Co., the Chicago-based parent of the Times, reported that Times revenue from preprint pieces for the five weeks ending Jan. 29 grew nearly 5 percent from the same period a year ago, a trend seen throughout last year, while full-run advertising in the paper itself fell more than
4 percent.
The Times’ preprint figure includes the advertising bundles delivered to non-subscribing households each week. And that is another factor pushing preprint growth: As paid circulation falls at the Times, advertisers are turning to circulars to reach households.
Industry experts say the preprints are popular among readers because they are an appealing four-color, glossy format that mimics a magazine and also because they come from the largest retailers.
Event Planning
New York-based events industry trade publisher BiZBash Media Inc. has launched a Web site dedicated to Los Angeles and Southern California, with a regional print edition of its magazine scheduled for later this year.
BiZBash LA & Southern California will include a biweekly, electronic newsletter that will showcase the most interesting events and feature listings of the latest venues and resources in each market.
Elisabeth Familian, publisher of Inside Events magazine, has been named president of BiZBash’s California operation, and Bobbi Proctor, former regional sales manager for Meetings West and associate publisher of Agenda Magazine, has been named publisher. Current associate editor Alesandra Dubin will move to Los Angeles to become the Southern California editor and bureau chief.
“We are what Variety is to the entertainment industry, and Women’s Wear Daily is to fashion,” said David Adler, BiZBash Media’s chief executive and founder. “The network, which has proven highly successful in New York City, will become the ideal springboard for (Los Angeles) event planners in generating ideas for their clients.”
In the Los Angeles/Southern California market, BiZBash research estimates that there are more than 80,000 corporate and non-profit events held annually in more than 1,000 venues. The region generates approximately $2 billion of the $13 billion event industry nationwide, second only to New York.
Rating Spanish
This week Univision Communications Inc.’s 3-year-old TeleFutura Network will be listed on the national Nielsen Television Index. It’s a victory for the Los Angeles-based Spanish language broadcaster, which has been fighting for greater respect among national advertisers.
The Nielsen Media Research main index provides TV ratings for the major broadcast networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and Univision’s flagship Univision network.
Univision and TeleFutura ratings once were available only on the Nielsen National Hispanic Television Index, which measures only Hispanic households. “Being part of the big picture makes it easier for advertisers and agencies to connect with us and ultimately with U.S. Hispanics,” said Ray Rodriguez, Univision’s president and chief operating officer, in a statement.
This and That
Univision has promoted Gary Stone to president and chief operating officer of its Univision Radio division, the nation’s largest Spanish-language radio broadcaster. Since February 2001, Stone has served as its senior vice president and chief operating officer, which became a Univision division in 2002 with the acquisition of Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. Prior to that, Stone was general manager of the company’s Los Angeles radio stations. He serves on the board of the Radio Advertising Bureau and on the advisory board of Arbitron.
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Mark Austin Thomas on March 6 will join Scott Jagow as co-host of American Public Media’s Los Angeles-based Marketplace Morning Report show. Before joining Marketplace, Thomas was the midday anchor at KPCC-FM (89.3). He has served as news director at several radio stations, including Los Angeles’ KFI-AM (640), and was program director at KLAC-AM (570).
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Chad Youngblood, general manager of the Los Angeles-based Fine Living cable TV network, and Susan Packard, president of affiliate sales and international development, for Fine Living’s parent Scripps Networks, will be featured in the latest Mavericks lecture series at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s Entrepreneurs Hall. The series, sponsored by Denver-based The Cable Center, seeks to introduce college students to innovative cable companies by presenting leaders who share their perspectives, insights and business experience.
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Entertainment industry and legal affairs veteran Jean Prewitt has been elected as chairwoman of the board of FilmL.A. Inc., the Los Angeles region’s private, non-profit film office that facilitates on-location production. Prewitt is president and chief executive of the Independent Film & Television Alliance, a global trade association of independent distributors and producers of motion picture and television programming. She joined FilmL.A.’s board shortly after it was restructured in December 2003.
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Staff reporter Deborah Crowe can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 232, or at
[email protected]
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