Newspapers now provide only 20 percent of AP revenue

Revenues from newspapers have fallen by about one-third at the Associated Press since 2008, from $220 million a year to about $140 million in 2010, and now make up just over 20 percent of the organization's total revenue.

CEO and President Tom Curley revealed the decline when I asked him last week about the cooperative's business relationship with its member-owners. He added two more financial nuggets:

* "We expect it will continue to drop another $5 to $7 million a year" in 2011 and beyond.
* The AP loses money on services to newspapers and effectively subsidizes those offerings with more profitable lines of business. But Curley said he was uncomfortable with continuing that imbalance indefinitely.

Though Curley and AP spokesman Paul Colford did not provide numbers for other business segments, Curley said growth areas include commercial photos, software businesses and AP's international television news feeds, about to receive a $30 million upgrade to digital.

Online news has been a positive, he added and broadcast is stable. Besides covering news abroad, the AP has also has a large international client base.

The 160-year-old collective remains fully owned by its 1,500 newspaper members. Its board is dominated by top newspaper executives (including Poynter chairman and St. Petersburg Times CEO Paul Tash) with a couple of broadcast representatives.

[Source: Rich Edmonds Biz Blog

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