Editorial emphasis is placed on news pertinent to the tri-state area's Mexican community
Since its launch in August of 2002, Diario de Mexico US edition has undergone some growing pains and has had to make various changes to find its place in the New York marketplace (see page 15, “Diario de México, a Mexican Publisher in Pursuit of the American Dream,” Portada® No. 11 September/ October 2004).
At the outset, Diario de Mexico U.S. was essentially the same as its Mexican counterpart, with different advertising and a slightly different cover. The price was set at one dollar.
However, after the first six months they noticed that growth had stopped and sales were declining: “This prompted the first change, which was a price reduction from one dollar to fifty cents and the inclusion of a local reporter that was focused on New York Mexican community news,” explains COO German Baz Gutierrez.
Although these actions halted the declining sales and steadied circulation, issue sales were still not growing, which underscored the need for further changes. The paper’s next move was to significantly overhaul the publication by re-designing the cover page and placing stronger editorial emphasis on news pertinent to the Tri-state area Mexican community.
As Gutierrez notes, the results were dramatic. After implementing these changes in December of 2003, the paper’s circulation and advertising revenue began to grow steadily and has not stopped ever since.
Today, most of the advertising is local, although Diario de Mexico U.S is confident that more national advertising is soon to follow: “to have local advertising is important to us because it assures national advertisers that our paper works. Local advertisers don’t bother with circulation numbers; they expect phone calls. If they don’t get them they simply cancel.” As such, Gutierrez views the strong base of local advertisers as attesting to the paper’s commercial viability.
As for circulation, the paper boasts 11,000 paid copies daily. Diario sees lots of room for growth, noting that at present it only covers about 25% of all possible points of sale. In addition, the market for the paper is growing rapidly. Says Gutierrez, “Mexicans keep coming, leaving traditional immigration areas like Los Angeles California and Chicago and moving to NY.”
Diario also understands, however, that to be attractive to national advertisers they need to expand quickly and become a national presence. The paper plans to expand into other major U.S. cities in the near future, with the aim of dominating the Mexican newspaper market.
Alex Andrews