Many people were shocked last April when the Tampa Bay Times, the flagship newspaper of the Poynter Institute and the largest newspaper in Florida, made the decision to reduce its print frequency to only twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays. To this day, the 11th largest media market in the country has no daily print newspaper. It was reported that the reason for this decision was the effect that COVID-19 had on advertising revenue, with more than $1 million dollars of cancelations occurring in a two week period in early March.
Industry veteran Bruce Faulmann and the current VP of sales and marketing at the Tampa Bay Times was a part of the senior management team who made that decision. In this episode of E&P Reports, Bruce chats with Mike Blinder, publisher of E&P, about how the Times' digital edition, robust website and niche publications are helping them maintain a great audience and the advertising revenues necessary to keep their news operation working. He also talks about how he is leading this major media market’s sales organization in tough times.
