My first experience with a "free" weekly newspaper was in Ames, Iowa, where I attended graduate school in the late 1960s. The Ames Advertiser was delivered weekly to people's homes at no charge; further, there was no charge for placing classified ads in the Advertiser. The business model was that display ads paid the freight.
When the Advertiser arrived, people perused it, looking for bargains. And if there was something we particularly hoped to find, we looked through it very carefully, reading every ad in case the item we wanted was the 7th item listed in someone's classified ad. In the process, of course, we saw every single display ad in the tabloid-style paper. Merchants, both local and national, knew they would have a big audience for their ads in the Advertiser.
We sold books, an old sewing machine, and lots of other things through the Advertiser because we didn't have to pay for the classified ads. We bought a bed, dressers, and several other things through ads in the Advertiser. It was a popular weekly.
When we lived in London, Ontario, there was a similar weekly newspaper called "The Pennysaver", which was delivered at no charge to our door once a week, along with numerous additional flyers. The differences between the Advertiser and the Pennysaver were notable:
- Both carried display ads, but the Advertiser had a higher proportion of display ads and a smaller proportion of accompanying flyers. Often, when the Pennysaver arrived, I would just pull out the Canadian Tire ad and not bother looking at the rest.
- The Pennysaver always charged for classified ads. The charge was considerably less for classifieds in the London Free Press (daily newspaper), but the ads weren't as well-organized in the Pennysaver, either.
Since we moved to Huron County nearly fifteen years ago, we have been receiving a weekly bundle of flyers and news items delivered to our home at no charge. But this package has very few high-priced classified ads.
With the growth of the internet, the use of no-charge weeklies for classified ads has diminished considerably. People sell things on eBay, on the local Kijiji sites, on Craigslist, etc. via the internet. Weekly bundles with classified ads are less popular now. On-line classified sites offer dynamic updating so that buyers don't have to wait for the next edition. They also have no-charge classified ads. And, using reasonable database programming, they allow buyers to search more specifically for what they are looking for by location, product category, and often even brand or model.
As a result, with the reduced browsing traffic through weeklies like the Pennysaver, display ads are worth less than they used to be. Advertisers are still willing to pay for home delivery of flyers but display ads in weeklies based on classifieds are not seen as much as they used to be; and so advertisers are not willing to pay as much to support those weeklies.
The result is that some of the weeklies are changing, offering more local news stories. But others are closing down.
The London edition of The Pennysaver will cease publication by Oct. 22....
Seven layoff notices, effective Oct. 21, were given to Pennysaver sales staff, who will be given every opportunity for employment elsewhere in the company as it becomes available.
It may be more than the internet that is driving this change; e.g. perhaps increasing numbers of people are concerned about the environmental effects of producing, printing, delivering, and recycling so much unread paper and hence are posting "No Flyers" signs on their doors. But I doubt if this effect is very large. If the "free" weeklies had content that we still wanted, they would be read or browsed more widely and would be more profitable.
The process of creative destruction, through innovation and technological change via the internet, is leading to the demise of many of the "free" weeklies; at the same time it creates more value for electronic ads.
