Marketing Weblog: Wall Street Journal to Sell Ads on Front Page

February 06, 2007

Wall Street Journal to Sell Ads on Front Page

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

The Wall Street Journal will begin placing ads on its front page, a move that could bring in tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue. The Journal will probably begin offering the space in September. The ad, which can be in color, will probably be square-shaped and run in the bottom right-hand corner. Another option might be a strip ad along the bottom of the page.

Media buyers speculated that the ad could fetch anywhere from $75,000 to somewhere in the low six figures. The journal is offering the space to its largest advertisers. The move could influence other newspapers to also open up their front pages.

This decission breaks a century tradition and has been made up in a difficult moment for main newspapers worlwide: everyone is trying to figure out new ways for increasing income and reducing costs in order to fight the advertising strength of digital media.

Taking into account Bill Gate's recent opinion about newspapers not exisitng as close as by 2020, do you think that media and agencies should work together to redefine newspapers advertising?

Best regards.

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

Posted on 6 February 2007 in ADVERTISING

Comments

Hi Manuel,

It is interesting how companies, in the large mayority of sectors, are having to change their strategy. Most newspapers survive from the revenues obtained from selling advertising space and so for me the most surprising thing is why the New York Post hasn't adopted this step much earlier. I know that in Spain the top newspapers all have small advertising space in the bottom right hand corner.

Do you know why the New York Post has made this decision now and not many years back? After all if they can sell the space for a six figure sum it would be a massive boost to profits.

Warm regards,

Mat

Posted by: Mathew James Constantine at February 8, 2007 11:33 AM

Don't you think Bill Gates predictions are good enough to rely on... They have proved so in the past... Remember he did not bet on Internet 15 years ago?

Ted

Posted by: Teddy at February 9, 2007 01:52 PM

Hi Mat
The reason why they didn't do it years earlier was precisely because they were proud of not having to do so; I mean, they wanted to show their independency of opinion from advertisers and influence groups... And they were able to avoid selling cover space for ads because a large percentage of their income was collected via newspapers selling... But then came Web 2.0 and lots of new kids from I-pod Generation grew older, went to University and started reading WSJ, but gess what? They didn't do it on paper but on their laptops screen using Internet... Audiences shrank and adverstisers started to offer less for the ads space to a point that got Wall Street Journal P&L into trouble... So in an effort to increase revenues from ads they have had to offr space ot their front page... Advertising on Mass Media is getting more and more complicated, my friends...
Best regards.

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

Posted by: Manuel Angel Alonso Coto at February 13, 2007 11:46 AM

Hi Ted:
Sure Bill tends to exaggerate and sometimes is really wrong (he did NOT indeed trust Internet and had to strongly react when realized of his error) but in this precise case I think he is close to be right: just by checking newspaper sales statistics year by year you can realize printed version of them will only be a resigual part of the business within 20 years...
Best regards.

Manuel Angel Alonso Coto

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