Alliance simplifies ad rates by matching Donrey paper

Advertisers in Northwest Arkansas seem to be happy with the area’s newspaper war. The competition has resulted in basically the same advertising rates at the two regional newspapers when cost-per-thousand circulation is considered. The rate is currently about 32 cents per column inch of newsprint in a daily edition.

“They all came in and made it very clear,” said Rebecca Davis, manager of the Dillard’s Department Store in Fayetteville’s Northwest Arkansas Mall. “They have treated us like kings and queens here. They’ve been very fair. We have all worked together. I’m thrilled and [company headquarters in] Little Rock is thrilled, too.”

Paul Smith, vice president and general manager for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, said that newspaper has dropped its cost-per-thousand advertising rate by about 10 percent since entering an alliance Aug. 19 with Community Publishers Inc., which owns the Northwest Arkansas Times of Fayetteville and the Benton County Daily Record of Bentonville. The D-G is owned by Walter Hussman through Wehco Media Inc. of Little Rock.

The alliance calls for combining advertising and administrative staffs between the three newspapers, but the editorial departments are to operate independently. Editions of the CPI newspapers are inserted inside the D-G and vise versa, depending on which newspaper a subscriber pays for or chooses to purchase from a newspaper rack. The cut off for the CPI cirulation is the Benton/Washington county line, with Springdale readers receiving the Times and Rogers readers receiving the Daily Record.

Smith said he sees the alliance as a chance for the partnership to get a lock on two of Northwest Arkansas’ largest cities that were previously contested turf in the newspaper war — Fayetteville and Bentonville.

Market domination

The Morning News, owned by Donrey Media Group of Fort Smith, dominates in Springdale and Rogers and has the largest circulation in the market — 35,996 daily. With subscribers in 69 percent of households in Springdale and 67 percent in Rogers, The Morning News is a must-buy for advertisers trying to reach readers in those cities.

On Sept. 1, The Morning News began a redesign, shortened its name from The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas and launched zoned editions of the newspaper for Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville. The Morning News also changed its page width from 27 to 25 inches, which could save as much as 8 percent in newsprint costs.

Tom Stallbaumer, publisher of The Morning News, said the change will make it easier to hold and read.

Stallbaumer said the different page size won’t affect advertising rates. “Our price per column inch remains unchanged,” he said.

But since the pages have shrunk by 8 percent in width, the size of the columns has also narrowed, meaning display advertisers are now getting smaller ads for the same amount of money than they would have before the redesign.

“It’s still getting out our product,” Davis said. “That hasn’t bothered us.”

To reach the entire four-city metropolitan statistical area, Smith said, an advertiser would still need to advertise in The Morning News and the D-G .

Under the alliance, Smith said the Wehco/CPI newspapers will match The Morning News’ advertising rates, with some variances depending on specific contracts and frequency of advertising. Since the combined Wehco/CPI newspapers will have less circulation (between 32,000 and 34,000 daily in Washington, Benton, Madison and Carroll counties) than The Morning News, the cost-per-thousand circulation will be the same but the total cost will be slightly less.

The Morning News currently charges $11.50 daily and $11.80 Sunday for each column inch of advertising if the advertiser buys 101 to 450 column inches of advertising per month. That means the cost-per-thousand circulation would be about 32 cents per column inch daily and a penny more on Sunday (based on circulation of 36,000).

The Morning News also breaks that cost down for advertisers who want their ads to appear in only one of the newspaper’s zoned editions. The breakdown per column inch of advertising is $5 in Springdale and Rogers, $4 in Fayetteville and $3 in Bentonville. The rates are less with frequency contracts.

Smith said the rates for advertising in either the Times or the Daily Record and not in the D-G will be the same as they were before the alliance. He said those rates are about 10 percent higher — based on cost per thousand — than advertising in the D-G and a CPI newspaper at the same time.

But the rate to advertise in the D-G and one of the CPI papers is about 10 percent less based on cost per thousand than it was for the D-G alone before the alliance.

Most advertisers want to reach the entire four-county region, Smith said, but some, such as dry cleaners, need only to reach one city with their ads. The advertisements can be purchased for either the D-G or the CPI newspaper that accompanies it.

Smith said the D-G will be able to raise its national advertising rate because it will be adding the circulation numbers of the CPI dailies to its overall statewide circulation. But the difference won’t amount to much.

“Since national advertising produces only about 5 percent of your revenue, it won’t be that significant,” he said. “Newspapers usually get most of their advertising from inside the state.”

Not worried about rates

Don Nelms, who owns four automobile dealerships at his Nelms Auto Stores lot in Fayetteville, said he’s glad the area will have another strong regional newspaper.

Nelms, whose business sells some 3,000 cars per year, said he’s not worried about decoding the new D-G and Morning News advertising rates since they’re based on cost per thousand.

“Advertising impacts a surprisingly small percentage of the purchasing intenders — a little less than 10 percent,” Nelms said, quoting from studies pertaining to sales at automobile dealerships.

“I’m not worried about it,” Nelms said. “It’ll shake out before long.”

Dean Redford, manager of the J.C. Penney store in the Northwest Arkansas Mall, said he’s yet to hear about the new ad rates from Wehco/CPI.

“As of this moment, nothing’s changed,” Redford said.

Jeff Jeffus, publisher of the Times and vice president and general manager of the Wehco/CPI alliance, said the D-G is moving its advertising staff and business office into the Times building in Fayetteville, and the classified department may follow. The editorial staffs will remain where they were previously located, he said.

Smith said CPI will halt plans to establish a multi-million dollar printing facility in Rogers called Vision Publishing LLC. The alliance will give CPI access to the D-G’s press in Lowell, making the new printing facility unnecessary and saving money for CPI.

Donrey prompts alliance

The Wehco/CPI alliance appears to be in response to Donrey Media Group’s expansion.

The Morning News is adding about 30 people on the editorial staff, which will increase that department to about 80, Stallbaumer said.

By comparison, Smith said the D-G has about 53 people in its editorial department. The Times has more than 30 editorial staffers.

Stallbaumer said The Morning News also plans to open an office in Bentonville so the newspaper will have offices in four cities where the zoned editions are based.

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations figures for six-month average circulation ending March 31, the daily circulation rates were 35,996 for The Morning News, 14,884 for the Times, 11,193 for the Daily Record and 16,142 for the D-G’s zoned edition.

As of September 1999, the most recent date for which a ZIP code breakdown is available, The Morning News had a total paid daily distribution of 38,775. (Distribution is more than paid circulation because it includes newspapers that are returned from racks.)

Among the region’s four largest cities, The Morning News distribution breakdown was 10,562 in Springdale, 10,120 in Rogers, 5,480 in Fayetteville and 2,204 in Bentonville.