Media Week: Mellowed Stan Myerson takes control of costs

Maybe this is why the Express web site was so keen to highlight the Media Week profile of their boss:
The group's year-on-year August ABCs were shocking, with the Daily Express down 9.5%, Sunday Express 16.9%, Daily Star 8.9% and Star on Sunday a whacking 24.3%. ... The Express modestly bills itself as '10 times better than the Mail and 10p cheaper' and 'The World's Greatest Newspaper'. But while their papers are still extremely 'cash generative', Myerson and Desmond have patently failed to replicate OK!'s win over Hello! in the battle of the Express against deadly rival the Daily Mail. ... Express Newspapers prepares to cull 80 more editorial jobs from an already threadbare team. The strategy is classic Desmond and reveals the ruthless attitude that underpins profits at Northern & Shell. Myerson says ad costs and cover price will also be looked at as newsprint, energy and transport costs soar over the next 12 months.

Tits and RSS

Some notes on the redtop web. Those in more conservative newsrooms might not consider the following links safe for work. Martin Belam has noticed that the Daily Star web site has a um, unique way of promoting its RSS feeds: use a picture of a half-naked model clutching the familar orange icon. The Sun, meanwhile is using [...]

New research on UK newspapers’ online business models

National newspapers’ online editors and managers are increasingly seeing print and online editions as complementary products, and at some titles concern about cannibalisation has “diminished to the stage where they are not a significant influence on strategy”. These are among the key findings of newly-published research in the business models of national newspaper web sites by [...]