On September 29th, Al Día (Belo Corp, daily, circ. 45,000, Spanish) celebrated its one year anniversary with a special event at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas. On October 4, Al Día's website (AlDiaTx.com), received the 2004 Radio-Television News Directors Association and Foundation (RTNDA) Edward R. Murrow award for best non-broadcast website. Earlier this year, the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors gave an honorable mention to Ernesto Londoño for his feature story “Condena Inesperada,” about the rise of HIV among Latina women. According to CMR/TNS Media Intelligence, Al Día had advertising revenues of US $3.4 million during the first eight months of 2004. Al Día advertisers include American Airlines, AT&T Wireless, Bank of America, Bank One, Chase Bank, Disney, ESPN-Deportes, MetLife, Nextel, SBC, Western Union and Washington Mutual. In related news, Al Día publisher Belo Corp. recently announced an overhaul of its business strategy that will include cutting about 250 jobs by Nov. 1, mostly from its Dallas Morning News newspaper.
Al Día's rival Diario La Estrella (Knight Ridder, circ. 40,000, Spanish, free) also celebrated its one year anniversary. On September 2, 2003, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, owned by Knight Ridder, revamped its ten year old daily, La Estrella, and relaunched the new and improved Diario La Estrella, increasing circulation from two to five days a week. CMR reports that Diario La Estrella had advertising revenues of US $2.9 million during the first eight months of 2004.
…will the paid model work?
Al Dia (Dallas, Belo Corp, circ. 45,000) is one of the first Spanish-language dailies to make a serious attempt to get paid subscribers. “We currently have a hybrid model,” said Mike Cano, general manager of Al Dia in Texas. The Dallas-based paper has a paid circulation of 20,000. Another 20,000 are homedelivered to households that requested the publication. After 6 months, these households are invited to become paid subscribers. According to Cano, the conversion rate is relatively high (13%).
