newspaper ought to contain more news and fewer advertisement
Newspapers get the bulk of their earnings through advertisements. They don't make enough money from their subscriptions to even pay the wages of their employees. The money brought in by advertisers accounts for roughly 60-70% of the income generated by the newspaper.
I'll give you an example on how much advertising is spent in a given month on a newspaper. My secular job is with the local newspaper.
We have 23 employees, (yes it is a small newspaper). On a monthly basis we will bring in between $23,000 to $30,000 in subscriptions. If the paper relied solely on subscriptions, everyone would make roughly $1,000 a month, and that's not taking into account the bills. Advertising brings in around $60,000 a month. By the time all the bills are paid, the paper barely breaks even.
One thing many people don't know about, when a customer receives the paper by mail, not only does the newspaper company have to pay by the piece and the weight of the paper, but the newspaper also has to pay a rate based on the advertising percentage. (What percent of the paper is ads and what is news).
Ideally, a newspaper wants to run around 25-30% ads and the rest "news" (comics, editorials, advice columns, etc count as news stories).
Newspapers have to maintain a precious balance between advertising rates and subscriptions rates. Charge the advertisers too much and they won't advertise, charge the customer too much and they won't subscribe. Thus a balance has to be found that can maintain a decent break even point.
I'll give you an example on how much advertising is spent in a given month on a newspaper. My secular job is with the local newspaper.
We have 23 employees, (yes it is a small newspaper). On a monthly basis we will bring in between $23,000 to $30,000 in subscriptions. If the paper relied solely on subscriptions, everyone would make roughly $1,000 a month, and that's not taking into account the bills. Advertising brings in around $60,000 a month. By the time all the bills are paid, the paper barely breaks even.
One thing many people don't know about, when a customer receives the paper by mail, not only does the newspaper company have to pay by the piece and the weight of the paper, but the newspaper also has to pay a rate based on the advertising percentage. (What percent of the paper is ads and what is news).
Ideally, a newspaper wants to run around 25-30% ads and the rest "news" (comics, editorials, advice columns, etc count as news stories).
Newspapers have to maintain a precious balance between advertising rates and subscriptions rates. Charge the advertisers too much and they won't advertise, charge the customer too much and they won't subscribe. Thus a balance has to be found that can maintain a decent break even point.