WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

Next Monday, the ABC figures for the last semester will show that the combined circulation for The Miami Herald and Nuevo Herald has declined daily and Sunday about 8.4% and 12.3%, respectively.

As of 2004, The Herald was the country’s 24th-largest newspaper, with a Sunday circulation of 447,326.

Today it’s the 32nd in the same raking, selling more than 100,000 copies less on Sundays than three years ago.

Once one of the 10 best newspapers of the U.S., now The Herald is one of the most problematic newspapers in the country.

Why?

Because it has been:

Unable to control the damage of the “I don’t believe The Miami Herald!” campaign.

Unable to connect with the large latino community.

Unable to become the U.S. paper for Latin America.

Unable to exploit its newspaper monopoly.

Unable to lead the Cuban community.

Unable to grow in a booming market.

Unable to stop the circulation decline.

Unable to stop the advertising decline.

Unable to develop a succesful internet strategy.

The Miami Herald was the flagship of the Knight-Ridder group.

Now McClatchy has a problem.

A big and expensive one.

UPDATE (October 16):

I am in Madrid.

My hotel is in the centric Gran Via.

Three newsstands around 6 PM:

Two or three El Pais, El Mundo and ABC at each of them.

And 20-25 Publicos.

The three vendors agree:

We sell one Publico for each El Pais.

Not very good news for the new national Spanish newspaper.

I don’t know about Publico’s business plan, but …

If this trend is not reversed in a dramatic way, the market has had the last word right now.

Is Publico a dead body?

When I arrived in Barcelona (Spain) on Thursday night, I went to the first newsstand at the airport on my way to get a taxi.

The rack of newspapers was almost empty.

It was 9 pm.

No La Vanguardia.

No El Periodico.

Two Avui.

No El Mundo.

No El Pais.

No ABC.

Three La Razon.

Twenty Publico!

Publico is the new national newspaper launched a few days ago following a massive free-DVD campaign.

So, the “testing” is over.

And if this rack says something, it is that they are printing a lot of copies, but selling very few.

The cover price is just 0.50 euros ($0.70) against the one euro for the competitors.

I asked the newsstand vendor about Publico.

His reaction: “The free paper, you mean?”

Well, it’s not a free paper I said.

“Si, pero parece un gratuito” (Yes, but it looks like a free one)

The comment is quite serious.

This was the same reaction that many readers of El Periodico had after this kind of design a few years ago (too much color, too many boxes, too many short stories…)

El Periodico lost more than 30,000 copies and La Vanguardia has been the clear leading paper in Barcelona since then.

Will Publico be another Pagina 12 of Buenos Aires, Liberation in Paris or The Independent in London?

A viewspaper for a minority?

A non-profit newspaper?

Publico and its young and combative newsroom deserve a better future.

It is a national 50-day advertising campaign.

Started today.

El Pais, El Mundo and Expansion published a smaller version of the same ad.

In La Vanguardia, ABC, El Periodico and other newspapers, the ACCIONA ads were bigger.

ACCIONA is a Spanish company investing and doing business in the green energy sector.

The ad today was a celebration of World Environment Day.

Using newsprint!

It was broadcast during the Oscars.

The new iPhone ad features famous movie and TV scenes of people answering phones — from Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate” to Lucille Ball to “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski — the ad premiered that night with a 30-second spot that was aired during ABC’s telecast of the Academy Awards.