According to Dallasblog:
WSJ: PAGE ONE ADS COMING
The Wall Street Journal will begin running ads on its front page in September, perhaps influencing other financially-strapped newspapers to adopt page one ads. Meanwhile, the New York Times has announced that it will reduce the width of its pages in 2008, losing about 5 percent of its news space. The Journal will move to a smaller page size in January. Both papers ran stories about the changes Wednesday.
Newspapers across the country, facing declining classified ad sales, higher news print costs and drooping circulation, are seeking creative ways to pump up profits. The Journal will offer a “jewel box†space in the lower right-hand corner of the front page or a “banner†running along the bottom of the page. USA Today has run a strip ad along the bottom of its front page since 1999, and now most other Gannett papers also run page one ads.
And why not? Internet viewers have gotten used to banner ads on home pages, and newspapers must take some steps to counter the influence of the blogosphere. Sure, page one space has been sacred, but looking back in history, newspaper sold front page space. In recent months, the Journal has begun offering ad space on some of its other section fronts and on European and Asian editions. The paper’s publisher says that hasn’t been an issue with readers. With 1.7 million in circulation, the WSJ is second in print circulation to USA Today. Many readers will recall when the Dallas Morning News had a daily Neiman-Marcus ad on its local news front.
As for the reduction in the size of the WSJ, the paper will shrink by three inches next year. But publisher Gordon Crovitz says the same amount of information will be published, even with the narrower width and page one ad. The reduced size could prove popular with readers, particularly business travelers who try to read the extra-wide WSJ on airplanes.
The NYT, which just reported flat second-quarter earnings, also plans to close one printing plant, thus cutting one-third or about 250 of its production jobs in the New York region. The company eliminated 700 other jobs over the last year.
