Real Cities, the national network run by Knight Ridder, has lost several key members of its executive team in recent months. That’s almost always a bad sign, especially given all the other problems that Knight Ridder faces. The network is also facing competition from Centro and others that smell an opportunity to simplify local buys for national advertisers.
But things may not be as bad as they look. In fact, Knight Ridder claims that Real Cities revenue is up more than 50 percent in the last year. Part of this is due to a general boom in national advertising in newspapers – some of which trickles down online. It is also attributable to a 25 percent boost in reach, with major sites like The Houston Chronicle newly coming on board in 2005. Real Cities currently has 120 sites, including papers from Advance, McClatchy, Media General, Media News Group and Scripps.
How does the rise of Real Cities’ fortunes translate to its affiliates? An online publisher at one of affiliates told The Local Onliner that “Real Cities is a useful network, but we’re certainly not seeing 50 percent growth from that relationship.” Translation: We’ll hang in there until something better comes along.
Looking forward, RealCities clearly has an opportunity to add to the bottom lines of its newspaper partners. Right now, it isn’t going out on a limb to suggest that national– including RealCities — is underperforming. Most newspaper sites rely on national advertising for just 5-10 percent of their revenue. Their print counterparts, meanwhile, get 18 percent of their ad revenues from national.