4 Questions with Billy Thieme

Billy Thieme, president and chief executive officer of ThieMedia Consulting LLC, a newspaper advisory firm, talks about why smaller and alternative newspapers are thriving and what metros can do in response.

What are some of the online issues newspapers are facing today compared to two or three years ago?

I think we can say that while the “Craigslist effect” has probably settled, papers are well aware that their longtime revenue stream from print classifieds has essentially dried up. The time it takes for any story to be posted and read online, from the time the author pens it, keeps shrinking, and newspapers continue to bleed readership to the Web. Even those newspapers with a highly developed and intelligent Web presence are having trouble maintaining any consistent readership in the face of the growing popularity of social networking, blogging and Web self-publishing.

These issues tend to be less strenuous on the alternative, community weekly newspaper and shopper market — but are still felt.

What are some of the reasons smaller and alternative newspapers are thriving compared to metro dailies?

There are a few reasons these weeklies are growing, or at least are not shrinking at the same rate as the dailies. The size of these papers influences their livelihood immensely. It’s much easier to change directions, and adapt and change a business plan when there are only 25 to 50 employees — as is the case with many of these papers.

Weeklies and community papers are ready and willing to try a new product or sales initiative on the fly. Major dailies subject themselves to decision-making processes that move at a glacial pace.

But the most powerful reason for the weeklies’ growth in the face of dailies’ implosions is the weeklies’ commitment to their readers and their readers’ interests. For far too long, while the dailies’ editorial content overall has been shrinking, they continue to increase the amount of wire-gathered national and international news across all sections — most of which holds little or no interest for local readers.

This power of local weeklies is also reflected in their advertising base. The dailies offer a footprint to the local advertiser that is frankly more than they are interested in reaching, in many cases. Dailies have effectively priced most local businesses out of their papers. The local weeklies and shoppers offer an audience that these small merchants cannot only handle, but is their community. The weeklies can offer this audience at a price these businesses can afford. With the inevitable growth of self-service advertising, the margin on these ads for the local shoppers and weeklies will only increase.

What are some of the online features newspapers and their readers are asking for on their Web sites and why?

I’ve always thought it comical that the one product that a business cannot purchase online is the newspaper’s No. 1 product — display advertising. I think we’re on the verge of seeing a huge explosion in self-service advertising, wherein advertisers will use the Web to book, build and buy their own print ads. This trend is already somewhat established in the classified liner category, where customers are encouraged to enhance print line ads on the Web — adding photos, videos, much more descriptive text, etc.

I believe the next level will be for advertisers to place print display ads on the Web. As newspapers continue to see the intrinsic value in this type of online interaction and production, I believe we’ll see a turnaround in newspapers’ profit margins. Just as Amazon and eBay have used the Web to change the world of retail, I believe self-service applications will change the face of newspaper advertising.

What are some ways newspapers can maintain or even add to their online readership base?

The explosion in social media networking is a sector of marketing that I think newspapers have yet to really even touch, let alone take advantage of. Newspapers should have their own My-Space or Facebook page, as should editors and writers. Another feature newspapers need to continue to evaluate and support is reader-generated content. The weeklies have always depended on submissions from local sources, and have always offered a strong grassroots platform for local writers. Now, with the power of the Web, the growing phenomenon of citizen journalism holds a lot of promise for these papers.

I believe newspapers have a long way to go in understanding how to intelligently benefit from the Web, and those that develop a Web-savvy attitude and interactive business plan will be the ones on top for years to come.