Early next month, Gannett will launch a pilot test of the Butterfly Project, a major bet on the future of print newspapers. It's one of the company's biggest initiatives in recent history.
What
The company will add a combined 13,000 pages annually to four of its 81 U.S. community dailies in New York, Florida, Indiana and Wisconsin. Most of that will be in the form of a new, abbreviated standalone edition of USAT inserted in the papers.
If tests are successful, the project would be extended to about three dozen other dailies from coast to coast with combined daily circulation exceeding 2.3 million weekdays and 3.5 million Sundays. Corporate hasn't provided a test timetable.
Why
Butterfly could generate millions of dollars in new national advertising revenue. It may also stem large circulation volume losses forecast by USAT when the struggling paper doubles its single copy price to $2 on Sept. 30.
Where
What
The company will add a combined 13,000 pages annually to four of its 81 U.S. community dailies in New York, Florida, Indiana and Wisconsin. Most of that will be in the form of a new, abbreviated standalone edition of USAT inserted in the papers.
If tests are successful, the project would be extended to about three dozen other dailies from coast to coast with combined daily circulation exceeding 2.3 million weekdays and 3.5 million Sundays. Corporate hasn't provided a test timetable.
Why
Butterfly could generate millions of dollars in new national advertising revenue. It may also stem large circulation volume losses forecast by USAT when the struggling paper doubles its single copy price to $2 on Sept. 30.
Where
- The Indianapolis Star. Circulation: 156,850 weekdays, and 286,115 Sundays. Adding more than 70 pages weekly.
- The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla.: 66,385 weekdays, and 91,150 Sundays. Additional 70 pages.
- The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wisc.: 35,986 weekdays, and 52,055 Sundays. Adding more than 48 pages.
- The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in New York: 101,885 weekdays, and 149,590 Sundays. About 60 more pages.
I predicted this back in 2009. One day, mark my words, all the local papers will be is a 4 page broad wrap around the USAT. There will be three monkeys and of course a elephant to manage those three employees at each local market. The rest will all be micro-managed by the crystal idiots in centralized hubs around the country staffed by uneducated morons like we have at all those different efforts. Frank should be proud.
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