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Article: Short term losses, long term profits. (at USA Today)(The Business of Journalism)(Column)
- Article from:
- American Journalism Review
- Article date:
- September 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 University of Maryland. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When Gannett announced creation of USA Today, I noted that launching a national daily newspaper sounded like a good way to lose a lot of money in a hurry. That proved to be true, but it has not turned out to be the whole story.
USA Today recently became Gannett's largest single profit center in terms of dollars earned. Last year, its advertising revenue grew 30 percent, compared with a newspaper-industry average of just under 6 percent.
USA Today's average daily circulation of more than 1.6 million, as counted by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, makes the paper second in size only to the Wall Street Journal's 1.8 million. And if you count as well ...