TV Advertising Has Rebounded Quickly: Scripps CEO
CNBC.com Writer
Newspaper advertising is lagging behind the the quick rebound of TV, Rich Boehne, president and CEO of the media company E.W. Scripps told CNBC Monday.
“On TV, we’re back within 4 percentage points where we were in 2008,” said Boehne, whose company owns TV stations in 10 locations, including Phoenix; Lawrence, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Detroit; Cleveland; Cincinnati; Tulsa; Baltimore; Tampa; and West Palm Beach.
“We’re just almost back to where we were before the everything melted down.”
Boehne said that 2010 was an “incredibly strong year in media, thanks to political advertising.” Other robust advertising sectors are automotive, retail and consumer goods, he added.
“We’re optimistic that things [the recovery] will continue, but slowly and steadily,” he added.
Newspapers, which account for 56 percent of the company's revenue, have been slower to come back because of weakness in real estate and jobs classifieds, said Boehne.
He added that Scripps newspapers are undergoing a radical change in how they do business, which includes both building and “monetizing” the audience.
The company's newspapers are in 14 markets. Among them are Naples, Fla., Bremerton, Wash., Evansville, Ind., and Memphis and Knoxville, Tenn.
