For years now, change has been a constant in the newspaper business. Changes in technology; changes in production; we’ve embraced it all and are better for it.
We have adjusted to new consumer habits and employed innovative ways to deliver our products — but there’s more to come.
As the main provider of your local news and advertising, we aim to thrive in the new digital age, while holding fast our tradition as a quality print newspaper.
Today, we average hundreds of thousands of page views every single month on our website. Very strong numbers. Meanwhile, a third party research group, Vividata, which conducted a survey on newspaper readership in Richmond released their report last month showing the Richmond News averages 1.5 readers for every paper we print — over three times more than any other newspaper in Richmond including the Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, or Metro — now that’s impressive and something we are very proud to announce.
As you know, readers access our content on many platforms, including paper product, mobile phone, tablet and desk top.
Simply put: for us to continue being successful, we cannot run our business the way we did 10 or 20 years ago, heck, even two years ago. Although the print readership is impressive, we must always be looking to the future and adapt in order to constantly grow.
With that in mind, the first way we intend to adapt is by changing our print product from two issues published every week to one issue. The one weekly issue will be published every Thursday, beginning on Jan. 4. The change will give us the time to publish one great editorial product every week for our readers and advertisers, instead of spreading our resources producing two issues.
Our parent company, Glacier Media Group, has had success implementing this model in such places as New Westminster and Vancouver. The printed newspapers in both markets are thriving, with larger per-issue page counts, increased advertising revenue and more editorial space for our writers. Big win all around.
The second change is that we are hiring more staff – more writers and more sales people. If anything screams success, it’s bringing on more employees to help with the increased workload.
We have a vital job to do in Richmond and we take it very seriously. One noticeable change resulting from the restructuring and hiring of more staff will be the ability to deliver more content, faster updates, and even more local news to our website.
Is the future of newspapers bleak? Absolutely not. Far from it, as we are experiencing more and more people craving for greater amounts of information on a variety of platforms every single day.
It’s an exciting time for Richmond and the Richmond News. We are thrilled about the possibilities and developments yet to be explored.
And we think you should be excited, too.
