L.A. Times expansion in Vegas apparently hits snag

Monday, June 4, 2001 | 9:55 a.m.

The Los Angeles Times, which attempted to increase circulation with home delivery in the Las Vegas market last year, is scaling back route delivery while adding to the number of outlets at which the newspaper can be purchased.

Spokesman David Garcia said the Times halted deliveries in some areas of the Las Vegas market because delivery zones are so widespread -- an indication of low penetration, or sales, in those areas.

Garcia said he could not disclose what areas of town are having delivery discontinued, but said the company has added more than 100 new single-copy outlets where the newspaper can be purchased.

Garcia said the total number of outlets at which the paper is now available is proprietary and he would not disclose the number. He also would not disclose the Times' Southern Nevada circulation. Customers who had newspapers delivered at home will be referred to one of the newspaper's single-copy outlets, he said.

"The perception that we're cutting back in our circulation in Las Vegas is inaccurate," Garcia said. "In reality, it's quite the opposite."

The Audit Bureau of Circulations, which monitors the paid circulation of the nation's newspapers, only breaks down delivery statistics by market in annual reports that are released more than a year after the data are collected. The most recent ABC figures for the Los Angeles Times show a circulation of 3,017 in Clark County as of March 31, 1999.

Worldwide, the Times says it has a circulation of 1.1 million copies daily and 1.3 million on Sundays. The newspaper says it has the largest editorial staff of any U.S. newspaper.

Steve Coffeen, circulation director of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun, which are distributed through a joint operating agreement, said he thinks the Times' circulation has fallen below the 3,000 mark because its new management is not as aggressive at building circulation.

"There was talk of (publishing) a West Coast edition and we kept hearing that Las Vegas was going to be a part of that," Coffeen said.

But when the Times' parent company, Times Mirror Co., was acquired last June by the Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers, Coffeen said the company's emphasis shifted.

"They became more interested in their own back yard," he said.

Coffeen said the Times and other publications have stepped up their coverage of Southern Nevada, but that has resulted in more stories for their core readership areas instead of positioning them as stronger competitors in the Las Vegas market.

Two large newspaper operations -- the Los Angeles Times and USA Today -- have made the biggest investments in capturing market share in Las Vegas in recent years. The New York Times, which has a national edition that is distributed locally, and the Wall Street Journal also have made strides to increase circulation nationwide.

USA Today, owned by Gannett Co., which also owns the Gazette-Journal in Reno, contracts to print USA Today in Las Vegas at Las Vegas Press.

Heidi Henderson, manager of media relations for USA Today, said the newspaper began printing in Las Vegas, one of 36 satellite printing sites, in September.

Henderson said the company has mostly single-copy newsstand sales with few home deliveries and with some bulk contracts with local hotels. She said USA Today has a circulation of 25,000 copies statewide.

The Los Angeles Times, which began making efforts to increase home delivery in Las Vegas in 1998, prints the edition circulated in Southern Nevada in Glendale, Calif. Home delivery of the Times is set to increase to $7 a week for seven days or $4 a week for the Sunday edition only.

Garcia said the effort to add circulation was not because of the large number of California transplants living in Las Vegas, but was an effort to grow in a large metropolitan area in close proximity to the Times primary circulation area.

Kathy Park, a spokeswoman for the New York Times, said the newspaper is distributed in 200 markets in 43 states, including home delivery in Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Reno. She did not disclose circulation figures per market, but said the Times has a national circulation of 1.2 million daily and 1.7 million on Sunday.

The national edition of the Times is printed in 13 sites across the country, with papers coming to Southern Nevada from a plant in Torrence, Calif. Park said four new printing plants will come on line by the end of May, but they won't affect Southern Nevada delivery.

The national edition costs $1 daily and $4.75 on Sunday. Home delivery is $10.25 a week.

The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Co., has a national circulation of 1.8 million. Angela Santoro, a spokeswoman for Dow Jones & Co., said the Journal's Las Vegas circulation is 7,051 as of March 31.

The daily edition costs $1 per copy and a one-year subscription is $175. Copies of the paper circulated in Southern Nevada are printed in Riverside, Calif.

Media buyers in Las Vegas say the four publications aren't a major draw for Las Vegas advertisers, except for companies trying to reach the Southern California market.

Joan Jungblut, media director for Outback Media, a division of The Merica Agency, said some clients who want to reach Californians will advertise in the Times, but most don't look to the Times circulation in Las Vegas as a means of reaching local residents.