The Cold War Between Tampa Bay's Newspapers Heats Up

I've heard people say we are lucky in the Tampa Bay area to have real newspaper competition.

But, as a colleague of mine noted, we don't have a direct newspaper competition so much as a journalism cold war -- where the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times fight each other directly for subscribers mostly in a few select communities, like, Pasco County.

Still, the Tribune owns Hillsborough County circulation-wise, and the Times owns its side of the Bay -- for the most part. But that competition may be heating up following news that the Times has decided to expand publication of its free tabloid tbt* to five days a week, with a special pull out section on Fridays. The news prompted a federal lawsuit by the Tampa Tribune, which has complained that the tbt* name -- which I always thought stood for Tampa Bay Times -- violates a copyright they hold for the name Tampa Times.

The news comes as Media General released profit figures this week noting that advertising revenue at the Tampa Tribune rose 13.9 percent from January 2005 levels, including an 18 percent rise in classified advertising. That's interesting news in the wake of competition from online services such as Craigslist and eBay.

The news about tbt* had been rumored in the Times newsroom for many days. Advertisers seem to love the scrappy tabloid, which has developed a snarky, unique voice in presenting splashy stories about a porn video filmed at The Pier and media coverage of the Debra LaFave case. Already, the tab has become a significant competitor for Tampa's alternative newspaper the Weekly Planet; news that tbt* will be stepping up production can't be good news for them, either.

Industry convention says such tabloids are a combination starter kit/laboratory for newspapers -- getting younger readers to consider a regular newspaper habit, while acting as an incubator for fresh approaches which can be imported to the mothership publication. Much as I love my friends who work at tbt*, I worry that such publications really encourage young readers to see newspapers as irrelevant to their lives outside of entertainment. That's not a perception which will help traditional newspapers improve their brand much.

Still, with tbt* expanded to five days, the writing is indeed on the wall. Readers who complained about our front page story on Chuck Norris jokes or the big spread on allegedly gay strip club owner Joe Redner should steel themselves; the importation of attitude and coverage style from our youth-focused sister publication has only begun.

Comments

[Photostation]

Where I live in New York, there are 2 English language and one Spanish language free tabloids available. One of them is AM New York, published by the Tribune Publishing Company of Chicago and features articles by that day's editions of Newsday, which is one of 4 major NY dailies that people otherwise pay for. Another is Metro, which is partially owned by the Boston Globe, which means it is also partially owned by THEIR parent company, The New York Times. Metro is available in other cities across North America (including Boston and Philadelphia to name two) AND around the WORLD (It's huge in Rome's METRO system), which leads to its REAL target audience for both: COMMUTERS.In my unscientific observations, I still notice high PAID newspaper readership among many of New York's mass transit riders. However, I see even more people grabbing the free dailies on their way to catch their train or bus. In fact, I see hawkers of the free dailies practically forcing copies nto commuters' hands once they reach NY Penn Station. About a block away, on any given rush-hour morning, there's even more hawkers stuffing the free papers in hands of people entering the subway system.Both METRO and AM New York are striving to get people reading newspapers in the hopes they'll actually BUY the unabridged versions they copy.I would think the same is true about TBT. But I think Eric is right about the "tabloid mentality", the in-you-face entertainment garbage being pushed as news on many tabs' front pages. Yech!I guess Paris Hilton's latest blunders are more newsworthy than thousands of Phillipines being wiped out in a mudslide to some people....Only time will tell.My prediction: TBT, pending the outcome of the Tampa Trib's lawsuit, will succeed - at least in the short term of 1-4 years.

[taf_edge]

What's a 5 day tbt* going to do for content? Most of the stories are either recycled from the Times (or vice-versa) or pulled from the wire. Also what about distribution? You have to want to find a box, not an easy task sometimes in an area without huge Mass Transit. I've been to NY and Toronto where daily "alternatives" work mainly because they are ubiquitous on the subways. To get a tbt* each week I have to 1) find a box, usually pulling over on the side of the road. or 2) wait till Friday when my office diner gets it after a 2 day lag.

[Baylink]

5 days a week, huh?Cause that worked *so* well for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.Why do people do this?It's moronic, and it's doomed to failure, and it will take the entire paper with it (which, even though I've always been a Loafing guy, I think will be A Bad Thing.)You heard it here first.

[Anonymous]

tbt "snarky" and "fresh" Honestly, tbt reminds me of my best friend's little brother in high school - he was a complete spaz, but in his own mind he was the cuttin' edge. Most stories have already run in the main addition - so it's all rehash, except for the "see and be seen" parts - none of whom I would want to be scene with. I have always really liked The St Pete Times, but lately - I don't know, Chuck Norris on the front .. it would have been fine on the Floridian section, but the front page... whats with that. I have also noticed a lot of cheesecake sneaking into the Sports section, are their a whole new batch of Frat boys in the Sports Department. The St Pete Times WAS a great paper, I hope it gets back to that

[Eric Deggans]

I mis-wrote. i should have written Pasco in my original post, but I had a brain fart and wrote Polk instead...thanks for the correx...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Cold War Between Tampa Bay's Newspapers Heats Up": i will argue there is no competition between the times and tribune, except for pasco county, not polk.the tribune has maybe three or four writers in polk county, just like they have a grand total of five fulltime reporters in pinellas county.the tribune got rid of its polk county zone some years ago and in november axed the pinellas zone.notice more often than not, when a story appears in the tribune with a pinellas county dateline (often buried in the paper, btw) it generally has some hillsborough angle?the only real competition for news in this area is in pasco where both papers are going after each other in a real old-fashioned jouornalism war.like eric said, the trib has a strong foothold in hillsborough, the times owns pinellas and for the most part hernando and citrus.the trib really only covers two counties. the times covers five, the bradenton herald and sarasota herald-tribune two (manatee and sarasota).(interesting the tribune has a working relationship with that glorified rag the herald-tribune. what a lame-o paper that is.)the ledger rules polk like the times rules pinellas.without question, the times is the tampa bay area's paper of record.like the previous poster, tbt going daily hurts the planet more than the tribune.interesting the tribune's ad sales are going up, yet its content is being squeezed big time. i'm guessing the former is going to catch up with the latter in the next year or two.

[Anonymous]

i will argue there is no competition between the times and tribune, except for pasco county, not polk.the tribune has maybe three or four writers in polk county, just like they have a grand total of five fulltime reporters in pinellas county.the tribune got rid of its polk county zone some years ago and in november axed the pinellas zone.notice more often than not, when a story appears in the tribune with a pinellas county dateline (often buried in the paper, btw) it generally has some hillsborough angle?the only real competition for news in this area is in pasco where both papers are going after each other in a real old-fashioned jouornalism war.like eric said, the trib has a strong foothold in hillsborough, the times owns pinellas and for the most part hernando and citrus.the trib really only covers two counties. the times covers five, the bradenton herald and sarasota herald-tribune two (manatee and sarasota).(interesting the tribune has a working relationship with that glorified rag the herald-tribune. what a lame-o paper that is.)the ledger rules polk like the times rules pinellas.without question, the times is the tampa bay area's paper of record.like the previous poster, tbt going daily hurts the planet more than the tribune.interesting the tribune's ad sales are going up, yet its content is being squeezed big time. i'm guessing the former is going to catch up with the latter in the next year or two.

[formerly mr anonymous]

whats become of the tampa trib's lawsuit over the name?i must say i always thought tbt was a lame name. no one knows what it stands for.i think its good news this pub will be out five days a week. neither the trib nor the times does a very good job on pop culture, and the weekly planet, which stands to lose the most from this move, falls flat as well.they will be very unhappy at the trib about this, as well they shd be. the trib lacks the staff and the talent to compete for these supposedly younger readers, so this showdown shd be interesting to watch.its interesting the tribs classified are up. perhaps its bec the bay area is a bit backward about catching on to free listngs on craigslist, which ive used successfully and would never pay for again in a newspaper.