BOSTON – On Friday at the APSE Summer Convention, three sports editors discussed ways they've made their preps coverage stand out from the competition, draw new readers and make a little extra money.
Ben Brigandi of the Williamsport (Pa.) Sun-Gazette, APSE's third vice president, led the discussion, with Hank Domin of the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union and Chris Beaven of the Canton (Ohio) Repository presenting some of their most innovative preps ideas at the High School Extra! session.
The Times-Union, a 75,000 circulation paper that serves a rabid fan base while faced with a declining news hole, made its prep football preview edition a glossy, 68-page magazine, with six feature stories and 32 pages of team capsules.
The issue was successful both from a content standpoint and from a business one. Domin said the Times-Union sold 2,000 copies of the magazine at $5 apiece and made a profit of $2,000 on the venture.
On the issue's launch date, the Times-Union threw a launch party that Domin said was attended by 200 community members. The magazine increased the Times-Union's brand and presence in the marketplace, and Domin said advertising for the 2011 edition is $2,000 ahead of where it was at this point last summer.
The Canton Repository is a 50,000 circulation that serves a "high-school football-mad region," Beaven said.
Beaven's presentation focused on the Repository's prep football website, FridayNightOhio.com, which covers the 38 core schools in the Canton area.
The site is much more comprehensive than the typical preps site. Where most simply list rosters, stats and schedules, FridayNightOhio.com includes individual pages for more than 2,000 players, with stats and honors updated throughout the season.
The individual player sites have received a combined 1.95 million clicks. Advertisers have taken notice, and there is room on each player page for ads, which are sold at $25-50 apiece.
"You have to make sure you appeal to advertisers," Beaven said.
Reader involvement and interactivity are also key, Beaven said, pointing out reader submissions that are included on the site.
