Gannett Builds Sunday Home Delivery Newspaper Circulation
McLEAN, VA – Gannett (NYSE: GCI) reported today that the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations’ Publishers Statements for the six-month period ended Sept. 30, 2010, show improving Sunday home delivery paid circulation at many of Gannett’s daily newspapers, including 21 of U.S. Community Publishing’s top newspapers. These include some of the company’s largest circulation newspapers, including The Arizona Republic, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Des Moines Register, The Greenville (SC) News, The News Journal in Wilmington, DE, The News-Press in Fort Myers, FL, and The Tennessean in Nashville.
“We know our Sunday newspapers are highly valued by consumers, who spend more than an hour on average reading the Sunday newspaper’s news and advertising information,” said Robert Dickey, president of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing (USCP). “Over the course of the year, we have strategically focused our efforts on improving the Sunday experience for both our subscribers and advertisers who recognize that they can reach a highly engaged audience on Sundays.
“Consumers enjoy the Sunday newspaper because of the full depth and variety of local content and also for the advertising that serves as their weekly shopping guide and primary source for advertising information. Advertisers like having their advertising messages in the Sunday newspaper because of its local audience reach and engagement level with consumers.”
Gannett launched an overall Sunday newspaper effort in 2010 to enhance content with new sections and features and improved design to enrich the reading experience, giving readers more great storytelling about local people; unique investigative journalism; more sophisticated design; and deep guides to local life.
Increased retention rates among new subscribers this year indicate content and product improvements are enhancing loyalty among readers. Thirteen-week subscriber retention has improved nearly 5 percent over last year, while 26-week subscriber retention has improved nearly 9 percent.
In addition, USCP’s local market research also indicates growth of overall audience impressions across Gannett markets by 16 percent over the last two years, driven by multi-platform audience aggregation strategy and aggressive leveraging of digital platforms.
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations. Gannett is an Internet leader with hundreds of newspaper and TV web sites; CareerBuilder.com, the nation’s top employment site; USATODAY.com; and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe.com sites. Gannett publishes 82 daily U.S. newspapers, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper, and more than 600 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in 19 U.S. markets. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is one of the UK’s leading regional community news providers, with 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of web sites.
For media inquiries, contact:
Robin Pence
Vice President of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
rpence@gannett.com
For investor inquiries, contact:
Jeffrey Heinz
Director, Investor Relations
(703) 854-6917
jheinz@gannett.com