2012 is off to a great start, and we wanted to share some of our new developments with you.
Circulation is up strongly. Yes, in spite of a widely held belief that print is waning, we’re seeing demand for our publication stronger than ever. Our median press run in 2011 was up approximately 10 percent over 2010; the first quarter of 2012 to date is up a whopping 40 percent over 2011. We don’t intend to increase either our rate base or our rates at this point, which means you can reach a lot more audience than you did in prior years at the very same cost.
We’ve added three new columns to the front of the magazine. “Dime Stories” is a wide-ranging column from the well-known local visual artist Tony Fitzpatrick. “Checkerboard City” focuses on alternative transportation issues written by one of the city’s top experts on such matters, John Greenfield. And “Thought Police” marks the return of our award-winning media columnist Hildy Johnson, with a beat broadened to incorporate advertising and culture in general into his search for understanding the ways in which our ideas about the world around us are formed.
Our digital platforms implementing the best digital strategies continue to get more robust everyday. We’re consistently reaching more than 60,000 unique visitors a month. Our social platforms—email newsletter, Facebook and Twitter—have passed the 5,300 folks-reached number, up substantially since we started tracking them last summer.
We published our first book, “Newcity’s Best of Chicago 2012,” as an e-book from Agate Digital. More information about that can be found here.
We’ve launched Newcity Hearts Arts, a program to donate print, digital and social media support to fundraising efforts in the cultural community of Chicago. You can see details here. We’re deeply committed to the arts and culture of the city, and hope to continue to leverage our growing audience relationships to join us in that passion.
Newcity remains Chicago’s only locally owned cultural weekly (or occasionally biweekly, as we now publish 39 weeks a year). We are committed to expanding our audience, improving its quality and strengthening our relationship with that audience. If you believe in what we’re doing, put your advertising dollars to work with us in print and online. You’ll not only support our ability to accomplish our goals, but you’ll get more return on your marketing investment than ever before. Who doesn’t love a win-win?