San Francisco Chronicle Going Glossy To Attract Readers, Ads

SAN FRANCISCO — With its circulation falling faster than any other major U.S. newspaper's, the San Francisco Chronicle is determined to set the pace in a flashier way: It's about to become the first general-interest daily to print its editions on high-quality glossy paper.

The new look, scheduled to debut in Monday's newspaper, is part of the Chronicle's effort to create a more visually appealing newspaper as more readers turn to the Internet for free information and entertainment.

Besides making the Chronicle more pleasing to read, the magazine-style glossy paper could help the newspaper attract more advertisers looking to make their products shine.

The Chronicle, the largest newspaper in technology-driven northern California, has been hard hit by the migration to the Internet. Its weekday circulation plunged nearly 26 percent from a year ago to an average of 251,782 during the April-September period, more than any other big-city newspaper in the United States.

The decline extended a pattern that has been unfolding throughout the decade. In 2001, the Chronicle's weekday circulation stood at 527,000.

Despite the latest circulation losses, Chronicle management says the newspaper is in far better financial shape than it was last year when the publication lost about $50 million, prompting its owner, Hearst Corp., to threaten a sale or closure in February.

The turnaround since then has been driven by painful cost-cutting that eliminated hundreds of jobs this year and by higher newspaper prices.

The Chronicle now charges $7.75 per week for home delivery, up from $4.75 per week last year, and a $1 on the newsstand, up from 75 cents. That has helped offset some of the industrywide declines in advertising sales – still the main source of newspaper revenue even as readers are asked to foot a larger part of production costs.

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The Chronicle is now making money in some weeks, something it rarely did in recent years, according to Mark Adkins, the newspaper's president. The newspaper is taking advantage of its newfound prosperity by making improvements, such as the switch to a slightly thinner type of glossy paper than what is used in magazines.

The glossy paper will be used on the Chronicle's front page as well as the first page of most other sections. It will also show up on some pages inside the newspaper.

Because glossy paper usually is more expensive than traditional newsprint, it's unlikely the Chronicle would be making such a move without some advertisers already lined up to help foot the bill, said newspaper analyst Ken Doctor of Outsell Inc.

The Chronicle confirmed it has secured some advertising commitments for the new glossy format, but it would not provide details or discuss the paper's costs.

The switch also is another sign of how newspapers are targeting their print editions at niche markets as their circulation shrinks. In this case, Doctor said the Chronicle seems to be focusing on older, more affluent readers – a demographic more likely to appreciate spiffier paper. It's also an audience prized by advertisers selling luxury products.

Some trade publications such as Variety and Hollywood Reporter already print on glossy paper.

The Chronicle is sprucing up just as two of the nation's three largest newspapers are aggressively courting the San Francisco Bay area's affluent residents and high-end advertisers. The New York Times introduced a special Bay area edition last month and The Wall Street Journal is launching one on Thursday.

Proclaiming itself as "The Voice of The West," the Chronicle has had a tendency to stand out from other newspapers since its inception 144 years ago. It started to print its sports section on green paper decades ago and has a history of quirky headlines such as "A Great City's People Forced to Drink Swill" in a story about the quality of coffee in San Francisco restaurants.

The Chronicle began laying the groundwork for the move to glossy paper in July when it closed its own presses and shifted production to a $200 million printing plant run by an outside contractor.

Comments

[pissedmichael]

The Chronicle must be Rebublican oriented and still courting the wingnuts, who are always attracted to shiny objects that glitter with no substance.

[Proud Bay Man]

Now the nouveau riche dining at Delfina with groceries from Bi-Rite and pretty, pretty flowers wrapped in a shiny, processed newspaper can feel better about carrying it.

[Timelagged]

"circulation falling faster than any other major newspaper's" is funny, in the sense that the Chronicle could ever be considered a "major newspaper".

I remember a survey by some actual major newspaper when I was growing up, which evaluated major city newspapers, and I scanned it trying to find the Chronicle, which after all was my local city paper. I really had no idea, as a kid, how it stacked up compared to other cities. Finally I saw that the story had only a mention at the end that the Chronicle was so bad that it couldn't qualify as a major city newspaper to even be included in the list.

[goodog]

Considering that the HP rarely if ever sends us to an SF Chonicle, Examimer, or SFGate article, or even a San Jose Mercury story, I would surmise that the area's press doesn't generate all that much attention.

McClatchy, now there's news organization, with hard hiting analysis and investigative ethics that few national institutions seem to ever even approach. The unbiased work they did on Iraq is one of the great unsung heroics that comes out of that corrupt boondoggle of BOGUS war-mongering the rest of the press engaged in.

[Paul Peete - Huffpost Blogger]

Great observation. The SF Cron is a rag. They had to resort to giving it away on the weekends to try to generate interest and even then it was more in the gutter than in readers' hands. They need to get rid of paper distribution and go to an ereader with digital pushed news. Subscribers would have the unit cost covered over a subscription period

[MadMoll]

Once they get more balance in their editorial pages, I'll go back to reading the Chomical

[1088]

Get rid of Phil Bronstein, and people will buy the paper!

[Bloggerrogr]

They're just putting more expensive lipstick on a pig; doubling down.
They'll be done in less than a year.

FWIW

[swift goat pet for truth]

oooooooo! Shiny!

[mediamarv]

" ...is part of the Chronicle's effort to create a more visually appealing newspaper.­.."

Lack of visual appeal is not the reason I cancelled my subscription, it had more to do with the fact that there were more ads than news, Plus it might as well be owned by Macy's since most of the full page ads were theirs. With those cranks Matier and Ross as shining example, the ol Chron has become more of a gossip rag than a trusted source for news. Sorry to see people losing their jobs but mgmt just doesn't have a clue these days about what to do with the paper.