Complete Story
09/01/2017
How Gannett is growing its events business
To grow its events business, Gannett is thinking nationally and acting locally.
After years of letting its individual newspapers handle events on their own, the USA Today Network’s parent company has centralized its approach. This year, it has launched a taco festival for young readers, as well as a food and wine experience aimed at affluent readers. All told, Gannett plans to throw more than 500 events this year with first-time advertisers ranging from Nike to the National Taco Association.
In the past two years, the company has also doubled the size of its events strategy group, which Gannett CMO Andy Yost described as “just under a dozen” people.
Gannett does not disclose how much income it makes from events, but it intends to make that number part of the story it sells to investors by breaking it out in earnings reports in three to five years, Yost said.
The push into events comes as the publisher struggles, along with its newspaper peers, with the decline of the print advertising market. Gannett reported second-quarter print advertising revenues fell 16 percent year over year.
Events can mitigate those losses, but they also serve to deepen the relationships Gannett’s local titles have with advertisers. Virtually all of the events sponsorships Gannett has sold come from existing ad clients, Yost said.
