by Pete Mazzaccaro

On Monday, July 24, the Chestnut Hill Local will implement an online subscription service for its website, chestnuthilllocal.com. The subscription plan will limit content available to non-subscribers. A digital subscription will cost $15 a year.

Current print subscribers and members of the Chestnut Hill Community Association, which owns the Local, will have full access to all digital content. Currently, a CHCA membership is $50 a year and includes an annual subscription to the Local.

On Sept. 1, the Local will also increase the rates of its single-copy newsstand price from 75 cents to $1 and its annual print subscription rate from $28 to $32. This will be the first time either rate has been raised in 10 years.

Both moves follow what was a tough year for the Local financially, a year in which a decline in print advertising resulted in loss of $41,000. Last year, the Local made about $920,000 in revenue, but had expenses totaling $962,000. Advertising for the paper declined roughly 20 percent, or $100,000. Only savings on expenses prevented a much more severe loss.

“We found last year that what was happening to almost all newspapers – a significant drop in print advertising – happened to us,” said Local Associate Publisher Larry Hochberger.

Hochberger noted that the prior year’s loss followed seven profitable years in which the Local transitioned from insolvency and $80,000 in debt to having $100,000 in reserve funds.

The subscription plan’s purpose is not only to improve revenues for a website that only made $15,968 from web ads last year (1.7 percent of all earnings) but to defend print subscriptions from competition with what is essentially the same product for free online.

Hochberger said he hopes to be able to invest money into several areas of need at the Local, including an upgrade to aging advertising and circulation software and a new content management system to streamline the process of publishing content online and in print. He’s also exploring other online opportunities for advertising, classified and online shopping.

“We are looking to invest in new and creative revenue streams to support ourselves and serve the changing community,” Hochberger said.

Although declining advertising revenue has been the primary financial struggle for the Local, declining print circulation rates have also been harmful, not only resulting in decreased revenue but in value to advertisers.

Over a five-year period, print distribution has fallen across the board. According to annual statements filed with the U.S. Post Office and published every October in the Local, the Local printed an average of 5,877 papers a week in 2012. That number declined to 4,660 in 2016 – a decline of 20 percent. Newsstand sales saw the sharpest decline with average single copy sales falling 30 percent from 2,155 a week to 1,501 over the same period.

Approximately half of all Chestnut Hill Local copies are distributed in Chestnut Hill, either by mail or through single copy sales.

Meanwhile, chestnuthilllocal.com is averaging more than 30,000 users a month who view more than 60,000 pages. Those numbers have seen increases of 50 and 20 percent over the last five years when an average of 20,000 users were viewing an average of 50,000 pages a week. Presently, nearly 1,000 readers visit the site daily and more than 7,000 visit the site at least once a week, which Hochberger and members of the Chestnut Hill Local’s board of directors feel explains in part why print circulation for the Local has been declining.

“Increasingly we are hearing from people who chose not to buy the print paper because they could read the news, sports, features and entertainment news we provide for free online,” Hochberger said. “Rather than cut that content, we intend to increase it and ask those who read us online frequently to support us. Classifieds, our new and improved calendar, death notices, and some other news will continue to be free to all.”

Non-subscribers will be able to read up to 10 stories a month. Reminders encouraging subscription to the Local will begin to appear once an online user has viewed four articles. Digital subscriptions available for $15 a year will allow readers full access to chestnuthilllocal.com. Current print subscribers will be able to access the entire site for free when logged in with an account number they can get from the paper. (See sidebar for more details)

Bob Warner, president of the Chestnut Hill Local’s Board of Directors reiterated Hochberger’s hope that that the subscription model will encourage people to support the Local.

“We have to address a significant deficit and find a way to improve circulation and revenue,” Warner said. “We hope that the individuals who are reading the newspaper online will support the paper by either joining the Chestnut Hill Community Association (which includes a subscription to the Local) or subscribing directly. And we hope we can convince local businesses that don’t currently advertise to do so.”

Pete Mazzaccaro can be reached at 215-248-8802 or pete@chestnuthilllocal.com