Who says print is dead? A Chicago-based start up is hoping to both revitalize and revolutionize the newspaper by reprinting blogs in hyper-localized free papers that offer business the same kind of targeted — and cheap — ads found online.
The Printed Blog hits the streets of Chicago and San Francisco tomorrow and will be launched in New York within the next month.
“What we’re trying to do is apply some of the principals that have worked online in aggregators to the newspaper industry and see if it works,” said founder Joshua Karp, who has a background in management consulting.
Print runs of just 1,000 issues will allow the paper to be tailored to specific neighborhoods — which Karp envisions could one day result in as many as 50 to 100 different editions in large cities — and users will be able to vote on what type of content they want.
The paper will be focused on “your physical social network as opposed to your online social network,” Karp said. “It’s a different idea than the one size fits all you get with the [free daily] Red Eye or Chicago Tribune.”
The venture comes at a time when daily newspapers across the US are slashing staff and budgets and struggling to compete with the online advertising market.
The respected Christian Science Monitor was forced to abandon print distribution and has become an online-only publication and the Minneapolis Star Tribune last week joined the Tribune company — which owns the LA Times and Chicago Tribune among other titles — in seeking bankruptcy protection.
“I really hope the print newspaper doesn’t go away,” Karp said. “I for one appreciate the physical nature of it — you shuffle it on the train and ink rubs off on your fingers. It’s not the same experience as a screen.”
The Printed Blog has a significant advantage over traditional newspapers in terms of cost structure: the content is provided in exchange for a share of advertising revenue as opposed to a journalist’s salary or the kinds of fees paid to professional freelancers.
There will be no editing, and Karp is hoping to automate layout and distribute the paper through local franchisees who publish the editions on an US$8,000 printer in their homes.
Ads will cost just US$15 to US$25 and the small, localized print runs will allow local businesses like clothing boutiques and restaurants reach a specific target audience.
“This will be the first time we’ve advertised in an offline media in any shape or form,” said John McCaw, who runs Directory of Schools, a Web site which helps users access online education and degrees.
‘The audience in the area where the Printed Blog is being distributed tends to be a good fit for the type of demographic that uses our service,” he said.
Karp hopes to soon publish the blog twice a day to reach commuters on their way to and from work. He’s had no trouble finding the content to fill the three double-sided pages.
“There is a phenomenal amount of remarkably well written blogs out there,” Karp said.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
RSS