August 2006

Front-page ads run in 32 percent of dailies

Survey finds trend also increasing at weeklies

Front page ads: Love ’em or hate ’em they’re making a comeback among newspapers in Texas and nationwide.

The Wall Street Journal announced last month that starting in September it will sell ad space on its front page.

The New York Times also last month started selling ads on its business section front, in addition to its Metro section on Sundays, and this month the Boston Globe will begin placing ads on its business, real estate and other sections, except its city and region section. Both papers are owned by The New York Times Co.

And the Los Angeles Times also plans to start selling section-front advertising.

The nation’s largest newspapers are making the jump and Texas is not far behind. As newspapers continue searching for new revenue streams more and more appear to be turning to front-page ads and advertising on sections fronts.

When the Texas Press Messenger first covered the issue in November 2000 only a handful of newspapers were publishing front-page ads.

Today that dynamic has drastically changed and the results of a random visual survey of Texas newspapers last month showed some surprising results.

Out of 69 daily newspapers surveyed, 32 percent are publishing front-page ads and another 13 percent print ads on their section fronts. So nearly half of all dailies are printing ads in what traditionally has been sacred newshole.

None of the state’s five largest dailies run front-page ads and only the Austin American-Statesman is selling ads in the corner of section fronts, as of late July.

The most unique twist on front-page ads the survey found in the dailies is The Pampa News, which runs ads in its banner, across the bottom and in a rail down the left side in 2-inch by 1.5-inch slots.

The survey also looked at weekly and semiweekly newspapers. Only 25 percent of the 136 weeklies and semiweeklies surveyed published front-page ads, as of late July.

Still out of all the newspapers surveyed nearly one-third are publishing front-page and section-front ads.

Most of the front-page ads the survey identified are single-advertiser small strip ads that run across the entire bottom page. Generally the ads are plain with one color and no graphics and no large type.

Several newspapers, however, give front-page ads prime placement in the flag or banner and mix the ads with their regular teasers. A handful of newspapers sell ads both in the banner and across the bottom.

On section front advertising, the sports page seems to be the most popular place for ads. Most section-front ads identified in the survey were placed in the right or left ear, top corner, of the page. Section front ads also tend to have minimal text and generally one color.

Front-page advertising started resurfacing in newspapers in the late 1990s and in 1999 USA Today made it a staple. Early in their histories newspapers often commingled ads with front-page news. Many newspapers continued to run front-page ads until about 30 years ago.