RIO GRANDE – The people of Cape May County expect to get their local news for free, and for over 50 years, the Cape May County Herald gladly delivered – funded by a steady stream of advertisers eager to connect with an unrivaled local readership. The digital media transformation has sorely strained the advertising-based business model for media companies around the world.
For this reason, the Herald launched digital subscriptions late in the spring of 2019, and hundreds of subscribers have responded. Less than a year later, the COVID-19 crisis has crippled local journalism everywhere, including here in Cape May County.
Presently, the Herald is delivering more news content than ever before, through more media channels (print and digital) than ever before, to a larger audience than ever before. Check out our coverage metrics below
Meanwhile, the advertising income which fuels the Herald’s business activity has plummeted. At this time of year, the Herald team is usually scrambling to help businesses prepare for the summer season. Instead, business disruptions and uncertainties due to the pandemic have sharply curbed advertising spending. According to Preston Gibson, the Herald’s CEO, “Our April 2020 advertising sales were 70% lower than for April 2019.”
“We are perennially grateful for our advertisers, and we especially appreciate those who are able to partner with us now, but the current level of advertising is insufficient to support our news operations – especially when our news operations activities are at an all-time high.
“We are creatively curbing our expenses and pursuing various avenues of alternative funding – including soliciting community support, in the form of subscriptions and donations,” Gibson explained.
The Herald offers individual subscriptions (for less than $1 per week) and organizational subscriptions offer an even lower per-user rate.
Gibson expressed appreciation for the Herald’s subscribers and donors, “The response has been great, especially lately. When we took the paywall down to provide freer access to COVID-19 information, donations started to outpace subscriptions. It is always gratifying to hear readers tell us how much they love the Herald, and it is humbling to have this love reflected in their subscriptions and donations.”
Despite facing grave financial challenges, the Herald is delivering unprecedented levels of community service in several ways, including:
- CapeMayCountyHerald.com delivers a steady flow of highly relevant content to an audience 3x its typical size (101,105 users this week), with a rather consistent daily traffic pattern.
- Our free-issue weekly newspaper offers a robust selection of news, features and advertising content. Print copies are distributed throughout Cape May County and an e-edition of this publication is enjoyed online by thousands of readers in the county and beyond (e.g., part-time residents).
- A special coronavirus landing page provides links to specialized information areas and channels.
- We have expanded our reporter assignments to provide substantive, focused coverage of how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting Cape May County.
- We are operating an “Open for Business” feature with free listings available for local businesses – about 150 businesses are now listed.
- Our online “Spout Off” forum is enjoying a huge surge above its perennially strong popularity, with over 12,000 users during the past week (compared to 4,000 users for the same week last year), viewing 211,555 pages, submitting 367 “spouts,” which drew 1,723 online comments.
To the Herald’s readers and advertisers – THANK YOU for your support!
