Taking up a challenge laid down by Anonymous@9:33 a.m., I bought a copy of the nation's top-selling print newspaper this morning, here in San Francisco. Next, I counted pages and advertisements. I did not include what appeared to be house ads. I did, however, count even the smallest, classified-like display ads. I do not know whether today's edition is representative of a typical paper. Here's what I found:A section, 10 pages, seven ads: Subway, Honda, Odwalla, Mercedes-Benz, Cornell University, Zurich SEC Settlement, Norwegian cruises.
Money, six pages, eight ads: Sprint, Frontgate, Franchising Today Marketplace (five small ads), OPC Factor energy supplement.
Sports, 10 pages, four ads: ESPN, Hooters, Briggs & Stratton, Verizon/NFL.
Life, six pages, 16 ads: Marketplace Today (16 small ads, such as for order-by-mail Viagra).
Related: USAT's current advertising rates
Does anyone have access to the April 21, 2009, paper? I'd like to see a similar page and ad count. Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
[Image: Newseum]
Jim,
ReplyDeleteOf this ads you identify, Subway, Hooters, Norweigen Cruises, sprint and Mercedes Benz were the only ones that were actually paid for.
The rest of them are either house, make goods, or part of some USA Weekend deal.
Pathetic!
What about the full-page Honda ad?
ReplyDeleteA make good ad.
ReplyDelete