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April 7, 2020 2:17 pm  #2


Re: Torstar to eliminate 85 positions as ad revenue drops due to pandemic

It's all bullshit. They raise the price of the paper so high that it motivates people to find other reading sources.
The price of the print edition needs to go back down to $1 week days and $2 Saturday and $1 Sunday.

With prices so high, they whine and cry that they can't get enough readers. What if the paper is completely free? 
How many readers do they have then? What happens to ad revenue? Is it the exact same?

There are many things to take into consideration. As far as I can see, the paper is currently in very poor hands and it serves them right.
Such a shame too, since it was (and hopefully still is) a very good newspaper for Toronto.
 

Last edited by Radiowiz (April 7, 2020 2:18 pm)


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

April 7, 2020 3:20 pm  #3


Re: Torstar to eliminate 85 positions as ad revenue drops due to pandemic

I greatly sympathize with those who were let go, but given everything that's happening this was almost inevitable. I've noted here before how thin the Saturday Star has been getting, especially after COVID-19. Gone are the full travel, GTA and sports sections, and the Entertainment pages are pretty empty after they let most of the writers on that beat go. 

And despite the paper insisting in its announcements about subscription fee increases that "it's still a great value," it's harder and harder to convince readers that's true  The problem is that The Star has spiralled into a vicious circle as ad dollars dry up. 

They get less revenue, so they're forced to fire staff and shrink the number of pages. When readers discover they're getting less for their money, they stop buying. When they stop buying, the paper is forced to contract even more, which leads to fewer readers and on it goes. Perhaps when this emergency ends, things will get better for them, although there are few good future headlines for newspapers these days. 

The other thing I have to say about this is that the uber-liberal Star regularly brands itself as being the voice of the "little guy," especially when facing off against big bad businesses. But when they're the big bad business guy, there's only silence, which is the height of hypocrisy. If you need any more proof of that, go to their site and try to find the story about the layoffs. As I type this, it's nowhere to be found.

And without saying anything about their own news, that speaks volumes to me. 

 

April 7, 2020 3:42 pm  #4


Re: Torstar to eliminate 85 positions as ad revenue drops due to pandemic

I'm told page views are way up so it's not people are not reading the publications it's how they are reading and advertising has taken a nosedive for most media outlets since the pandemic.

 

April 7, 2020 4:03 pm  #5


Re: Torstar to eliminate 85 positions as ad revenue drops due to pandemic

 

April 7, 2020 4:41 pm  #6


Re: Torstar to eliminate 85 positions as ad revenue drops due to pandemic

Lorne wrote:

The story is on page 2 of the Star's Business section today. Here's the online version.
https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/04/06/torstar-to-eliminate-85-positions-reduce-executive-pay-as-ad-revenue-drops-due-to-pandemic.html

Thanks. I only had access to their website and I couldn't find it. They certainly didn't make it easy to locate. Even a search of the site for "Toronto Star layoffs" didn't turn up anything.  

Still my point remains. When other big businesses lay people off, the Star too often portrays them as greedy, looking only to please shareholders.

But when the Star does it, it's a matter of survival, it's "painful" and there's no choice. 

I hate to see any layoffs,but perhaps other corporations have "no choice," either. 

 

April 7, 2020 4:55 pm  #7


Re: Torstar to eliminate 85 positions as ad revenue drops due to pandemic

I've often found that Google does a better job of finding material on a website than the search function on the website does, and that's the case with the Star. So I'm not surprised that it didn't come up when you tried searching for it on their site, whereas Google found it right away.

 

April 7, 2020 5:02 pm  #8


Re: Torstar to eliminate 85 positions as ad revenue drops due to pandemic

The Star also had the story on their website yesterday,  which only makes sense that they would be the first to have the announcement about the layoffs.  The other dailies such as the KW Record and Hamilton Spectator which are owned by Torstar ran the article as well. 

Also the 85 layoffs are not all at the Star. The layoffs are spread over Torstar's weekly newspapers, the other dailies and the Toronto Star. 

Buying any newspaper is always a much better deal to subscribe rather than buying at the store where the price is higher. Subscriptions have gone up somewhat but still much cheaper than going to the local convenience store to pick up a paper everyday. Often if you are a new subscriber you can get a few weeks or months free, and they usually offer incentives when it comes time to renew. 

All papers are skinny right now, not just the Star. To me I think the Globe may be getting through this the best, but it is hard to tell since they are privately owned and not public like the other papers. Sort of like Eaton's when they were in business, nobody really knows revenue wise how good or bad the Globe is doing.

Other than New York City, Toronto is the only market in North America that has 4 widely distributed daily newspapers and time will tell if they all survive over the next year, or few months.  One or two could eventually go only with an on line product, and drop print. 

As has been mentioned many times, a lot daily newspapers including the Star have more readers than ever before, but more and more they are on line, which even at the best of times still doesn't produce the advertising revenue of the print product.  However only a matter of time before many print editions are finished. 

 

April 7, 2020 5:28 pm  #9


Re: Torstar to eliminate 85 positions as ad revenue drops due to pandemic

RadioActive wrote:

Lorne wrote:

The story is on page 2 of the Star's Business section today. Here's the online version.
https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/04/06/torstar-to-eliminate-85-positions-reduce-executive-pay-as-ad-revenue-drops-due-to-pandemic.html

Thanks. I only had access to their website and I couldn't find it. They certainly didn't make it easy to locate. Even a search of the site for "Toronto Star layoffs" didn't turn up anything.  

Still my point remains. When other big businesses lay people off, the Star too often portrays them as greedy, looking only to please shareholders.

But when the Star does it, it's a matter of survival, it's "painful" and there's no choice. 

I hate to see any layoffs,but perhaps other corporations have "no choice," either. 

Sorry RA, that is way too much of a generalization about the Star and big business.  The Star for over 120 years has been in the business of advertising "big business."  In fact for many decades The Star was the prime advertising vehicle in Southern Ontario for many of Canada's and North America's biggest companies.  If they were so anti business like you are trying to portray them, this would not be the case, and they would have folded decades ago.  Your comment is not based on facts.

Sure they will question and force some companies to justify layoffs, eg. GM closing Oshawa and shrinking employment in Southern Ontario when the company is profitable and after the Ontario and federal government bailed them out 12 years ago. They weren't the only media outlet to do this.  

If any company is bleeding blood, and struggling to survive, I don't believe the Star or any paper would be talking about how greedy the company is.