Who Is The Intended Audience?

Just an addendum to this post below, where I talked about the Commercial Appeal's "blueprint for a 21st century newspaper." [Scroll down to "At Least They Didn't Say 'World Class'" if the link is bloggered.]

Who is the most important person to a newspaper? Most of you will have quickly answered with "readers." You would be wrong. Newspapers don't like you to remember this, but they are profit-making enterprises, obligated to generating bottom-line income to their owners or shareholders. Their first duty is to them.

They make money by selling advertising. The advertisers are their second most important people. Without advertisers, there's not much money coming in. Subscriptions and newstand sales don't generate enough income by themselves.

To attract advertisers, they have to have the eyeballs of the people advertisers want to speak to. That's when you come in. If you aren't part of a demographic that appeals to advertisers, then what you want plays a lesser role in deciding what goes into a paper. This is not to say advertisers dictate content, but drawing in the readers they want does influence what goes on.

That's why the CA is eager for East Shelby County readers (affluent whites and blacks who buy big-money items), Gen-Y (young people who are just acquiring big-money stuff, have disposable income, and are just making brand choices), and black women (they determine how household income is spent).

That's also why the CA (the Memphis Flyer as well) have sections on wine, travel, fine dining, books and health/fitness. These things speak to the folks the CA wants to attract. It also explains the disconnect between the Flyer's faux-hipster attitude of their writers and editorialists, and the relentlessly upscale stuff they peddle in some of their columns. (A wine column in the Flyer?C'mon.)

Anyway, commercial considerations are always a part of the mix at newspapers. Don't ever forget that.