When Denver Post publisher Dean Singleton called a staff meeting last February to discuss the closing of the Rocky Mountain News, he announced a goal of retaining 80 percent of the News’ readers, an almost unheard of number.
So far, nine months later, so good.
The Post reached that goal in the first full six-month circulation report, April through September, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation. And, our online traffic saw a similar spike. (Numbers breakdown below).
Credit some built-in hometown advantages, along with Jay Cutler, yes, Mr. Pouty Face himself, as well as an aggressive plan to convert Rocky loyalists.
The hometown advantage? It starts with a highly literate Mile High City population that has always valued newspapers. And, Rocky readers were familiar with the Post. They might not have always liked us, and weren’t bashful about telling us, but they knew us. Subscribers to the Rocky received the Sunday Post under the Joint Operating Agreement between the papers, while Post subscribers received the Rocky’s Saturday edition.
Cutler? In nothing short of manna from sports heaven, Cutler threw a snit upon learning his new coach, Josh McDaniels, was contemplating trading him.
McJaygate, as we soon dubbed it, broke one day after the Rocky folded. The biggest bombshell sports story of the year in Denver dropped into our laps at the very moment we most needed new readers to give us a chance. For over a month, before McDaniels shipped Cutler to Chicago, we followed every nuance of the soap opera, in print and online, helping us convert Broncos fanatics who had previously relied on the Rocky.
As for planning, the Post tried to make the transition from a tabloid to a broadsheet as seamless as possible. The Rocky published its final edition on Friday, Feb. 27. We immediately took its place, publishing our first Saturday paper in years, which was delivered to all former Rocky subscribers the next day.
That paper included bylines by many of the most popular names who used to write for the Rocky, such as sports columnist Dave Krieger and metro columnist Mike Littwin, who were among a dozen former high-profile Rocky employees hired by the Post.
In addition, each department was assigned to chronicle every complaint from Rocky readers. Those callers and emailers let us know what they most missed about the Rocky and wanted to see in our paper. Near the top of that list was comics. Soon after, the Post added all of the Rocky comics. Many other features were added throughout the paper, all with the goal of removing obstacles to keeping Rocky readers.
In sports, most of the complaints were directed at our high school coverage. The Rocky built a well recognized brand, Rocky Preps, online and in print by leveraging their staffing of Friday night prep games. We immediately added space to offer more prep coverage of the winter state playoffs. We also went to work upgrading our prep presence online, which has paid off greatly during the football season.
There was no celebrating at the Post when our rival, just a floor below us, was shuttered, but there was a palpable sense of relief that we had survived in a market that clearly wasn’t able to support two papers.
And, as Singleton soon reminded us, it was time to get to work. A huge challenge lay directly ahead.
By the Numbers
The latest ABC audit listed the Denver Post with a Sunday circulation of 495,485, a Saturday circulation of 410,358 and a Monday-Friday circulation of 340,949, with a retention of 86 percent of former Rocky Mountain News readers for the previous six months.
There was an overall circulation decline from the March reporting numbers of 8.3 percent Monday-Friday, 5.7 percent on Saturday and 5.8 percent on Sunday. The Post attributed around 75 percent of those declines to a combination of no longer delivering the paper statewide and a reduction of free copies to area hotels, schools, etc. In addition, the price of a single copy was raised from 50 cents to 75 cents during the summer.
