Since the acquisition of the paper by Gannett in 2000, the readership of Republic-operated publications increased 28%. The newspaper’s reach also grew from 59% to 64%.

Cochrane said that “In the past two years, we have launched two dozen new products," as to not simply rely on the daily newspaper to attract the audience.

In advertising, Republic Media allowed low-cost and smaller ads to join the mix of full and quarter pagers. They also increased the number of entry points per page.

Another positive change made was the addition of community micro-sites to the paper’s web page. The content is updated daily and is not rehashed from the main paper.

The growth of the publication was also due in large part to Hispanic targeting. La Voz, the Spanish language paper was increased to two papers per week. It was revamped to become more vibrant which proved to be a success shown by the 72% Hispanic reach, which is almost double the 2000 estimate.

Small newspapers will have a problem in making some of the changes made by the Arizona Republic because it is difficult for them to define niche groups in their already small communities.

Source: Inlandpress.org through Ifra Executive News Source