As Market Shifts, Newspapers Try to Lure New, Young Readers

AS MARKET SHIFTS, NEWSPAPERS TRY TO LURE NEW, YOUNG READERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin julia.angwin@wsj.com & Joe Hagan joe.hagan@wsj.com]
Looking for ways to shore up their readership and broaden appeal to advertisers, many U.S. newspapers are adopting a new tactic: targeting narrower and younger audiences. Newspapers are launching youth-oriented publications designed to attract smaller advertisers that can't afford mainstream papers. They're building search engines to compete with Google and Yahoo on a local level. And they are offering "self-serve" classified-ad Web sites, where consumers can create their own ads. In many cases, profits are small, but papers are willing to take the hit in order to break into new markets. "In the past what newspapers did well was reach broad audiences, but that is not where the growth is occurring," says Scott Flanders, chief executive of Freedom Communications Inc., the closely held parent of the Orange County Register in California and other publications. "If we're going to get growth, it will come from capturing new readers, being able to segment them and being able to let advertisers target audiences."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114299723393804903.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
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