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If the number of paid display advertisements in a newspaper and its circulation are key indicators of success. The Honolulu Advertiser is way ahead of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin after two years of real competition following the dissolution of their joint operating agreement.
But local business executives say they still like to advertise with both papers in order to reach all possible readers.
Saturday marks the second anniversary of the day the two newspapers struck out on their own with separate business offices.
Newspapers track advertising volume in column inches, a number reached by multiplying ad depth in inches by number of columns. The larger the ad, the more money the newspaper receives in ad revenue.
A one-week analysis by PBN, March 3-9, showed that, excluding classified ads, inserts and self-promoting ads called "house ads," the Advertiser had almost double the total ad count as the Star-Bulletin. During that week, the Advertiser had about 14,500 column inches of ads compared to about 7,300 colunm inches of ads in the Star-Bulletin. (The Advertiser is printed on paper that is about 8 percent larger than the Star-Bulletin.)
On Wednesday, which is a big day for newspapers in selling ads, the Advertiser's March 5 edition had more than double the advertising space as the Star-Bulletin. In that issue, the Advertiser had about 2,400 column inches of ads compared to about 1,000 column inches in the Star-Bulletin.
On Sunday, March 9, also a big ad-selling day, the Advertiser had about 3,700 column inches of ads while the Star-Bulletin had about 2,000 column inches.
"We just finished four months of double-digit advertising revenue growth year over year," Advertiser Publisher Mike Fisch said. "It's in the 12 [percent] to 14 percent range. And it's fairly evenly distributed from both retail and classified ads. Prior to the fourmonth increase we were seeing some gains but not at that level."
Star-Bulletin Publisher Don Kendall, who leaves his...