The Chicago Tribune reports that aced with a steady decline in revenue and cash flow, Tribune Co. plans to run ads on the front pages of most of its daily newspapers, breaking a long-standing tradition of keeping Page 1 of its biggest dailies ad-free.
Chicago Tribune Publisher Scott Smith said Monday that his paper will offer select advertisers a 1.5-inch strip along the bottom of the Tribune's front page, a format that will be duplicated across Tribune Co.'s other papers.
Smith did not say when the ads would begin to appear.
The Los Angeles Times, Tribune's largest newspaper, reported on Saturday that it also planned to launch Page 1 ads. But Times Publisher David Hiller said the paper is still sorting out pricing and guidelines and that he had not determined when the paper would start selling front-page ads, the Trib said.
Tribune's decision to sell front page ads isn't unique. The Wall Street Journal and USA Today already do. Both Hiller and Smith have faced stiff resistance to the idea of front-page ads from their editors, said the story. But as the company strives to close its 8.2 billion plan to go private in conjunction with Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, they face even greater pressure to reverse declining revenues and circulation brought on by competition from the Internet and other sources of news.
