Hoy announced last week that Roaldo Moran would be replacing Javier Aldape as Hoy LA’s publisher and General manager. While Aldape has not announced his future plans, Moran spoke with Portada about his plans for the paper and what lies ahead.
Portada: What do you think will be the key drivers for Hoy LA’s growth moving forward?
Roaldo Moran, Publisher and GM of Hoy LA: Hoy is a relatively new paper with steady year over year revenue and readership growth. We will continue to fulfill advertiser and community needs in order to continue our growth trend.
Portada: How is the role of daily newspapers changing in this age of increasingly electronic news dissemination?
Moran: Electronic media has forced newspapers to react. I think it has made it challenging, and has helped us get out of the comfort zone, which is good.
Portada: To what extent do Hoy LA’s print publication and web edition serve the same readers/demographic? Is there a marked difference between those who read the paper in print and online?
Moran: Our online edition is a work in progress, but already attracts an audience far beyond our print markets of Los Angeles and Chicago. We have significant readership from other U.S. cities, as well as from Latin America.
Portada: Do you have plans to increase/ decrease distribution and/or frequency?
Moran: Hoy has just recently increased its Fin de Semana circulation to 500,000. Our aim is to not only meet the market’s demands, but we’re also looking to anticipate trends and needs.
Portada: Which ad categories are the most active in Hoy L.A.?
Moran: We’re seeing growth in all categories, but the Fin de Semana expansion has certainly focused increased attention on National and Major Retail preprints.
Portada: What is the ad-split between local advertisers vs. national advertisers?
Moran: Broadly speaking, it’s about evenly split.
Portada: What are the greatest challenges facing Hispanic daily print newspapers such as Hoy LA in today’s media landscape?
Moran: The challenges are the same as those of all other Hispanic media outlets:
a) Growing Hispanic revenues
b) Audience growth and retention
c) The need for more high caliber talent d) competitive marketplace
What is unique about LA’s demographics that is important for publishers and advertisers to take into account?
Moran: The rapid pace at which both Southern California and the media landscape are evolving.
Related Articles:
Hoy working with Google to sell Print Ads (Oct. 07)
