Newspaper publishers either publish content they value and want to see widely read or they see their product as a big ad catalogue that has to hit its numbers to keep working. The two products are from different eras and are quite different.
In the mid 1990s I had discussions with a senior newspaper publishing executive about early warning of newspaper sell-outs.
In the Tower Systems newsagency software was the ability to forecast when papers would sell out based on sales by 10am. The discussion was abut a data feed to the publisher from newsagents that could trigger replenishment action by 10am so papers could be in-store by 12 noon and the publisher not miss almost certain sales.
Back then, every over the counter newspaper sale was pursued with energy beyond what you could justify based on the financial return from the sale.
Newspaper companies were run by publishers back then.
Today, with the bean counters in charge, the focus is on return on investment. A lost newspaper sale does not have the same value to a bean counter today as it has to a newspaper publisher of old.
The opportunity is on my mind this week as more newsagents report sell outs and the lack of interest in publishers in resolving them. Even some newsagents care less about sell outs today that they did years ago.
The opportunity to predict sell outs remains, the will to bring the project to life does not.
Must admit that I’m happy to sell out by mid afternoon as processing returns is costly for the sales we now make. Sell out by midday are not acceptable but with the new distribution model getting extras is impossible.
Newspapers ? Who cares ?