For months, New York Times executives have been downplaying the brewing rivalry with the Wall Street Journal -- while simultaneously digging in for a fight.
Well, it's on now.
"We don't shy away from the competition," NYT Co. president Janet Robinson told investors last week. "We never have. We fully understand how to compete and in fact we enjoy it."
With the Journal's "Greater New York" section on the street as of Monday, the Times seems to be at least somewhat wary of the threat Murdoch and his gang present: a willingness to aggressively spend a lot of money, with an eye on not just winning, but on wounding New York's paper of record.
And they're apparently not wasting any time. Robinson said the Journal would compete, initially, "by giving away a lot of free advertising."
Monday's launch version -- running 15 pages -- was packed with local ads: Monet at the Gagosian Gallery, Saks, Macy's, Bloomingdale's and "Jersey Boys" alongside Delta and Rolex.
According to Kantar Media (via Crain’s), the official price for a regional ad page in the Journal “can run around $100,000.” Yet Saks Fifth Avenue bought $6.5 million on advertising in the Times in 2009, and just $35,000 in the Journal. (Doubtful they’d roughly triple that for a page in a buzzy -- but unproven -- section.) Similarly, Bloomingdale's spent $19 million on advertising in the Times, while spending just $217,000 in the Journal.
And president and general manager Scott Heekin-Canedy insists the Times “won’t get in a pricing war.”
On Monday, the day of the Journal's “Greater New York” launch, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and Robinson fired off a memo to advertisers reiterating their stranglehold on the affluent market – while lobbing a few grenades Rupe’s way.
“Some folks just have a different learning curve,” the memo reads. “After 120 years of existence, The Wall Street Journal this morning has finally decided to cover New York north of Wall Street.
“We welcome the Journal’s new local section. The New York Times has been the paper of record in New York for nearly 160 years, and we know just how difficult it can be for start-ups to develop a following. … While there will be much sound and fury to this new endeavor, we thought we would take this opportunity to remind everyone about our position of strength in the New York marketplace.”
The Times followed that with metrics touting their influence over, among others, the rich, women, art enthusiasts, theatergoers, opinion leaders and book buyers. (They even created a slick new video ad currently playing in New York City cabs and local television.)
Where the Journal entry could hurt them is their ability to set the ad market, said Ken Doctor, an industry analyst and author of “Newsonomics." “The Times has built up their pricing power – they’re a premium buy,” Doctor said. “If Murdoch decides to push the deep discount (sales) strategy, or expand to national editions, if I were the Times, I’d be worried.”
