Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Audit | USAT by the numbers: 32 pages, 35 ads

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]

3 comments:

  1. USAT Finance4/22/2010 6:38 AM

    Jim,
    Of 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!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What about the full-page Honda ad?

    ReplyDelete
  3. USAT Finance4/22/2010 6:19 PM

    A make good ad.

    ReplyDelete

Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.