Washington Post 2009 Annual Report Download - page 35

pressures, and our websites are not immune to this trend. Washingtonpost.com also relies on classified advertising as a
key revenue source. Classified advertising has become a crowded field online, with a number of national and local
competitors, often with a vertical focus. For example, Carmax.com and Autobytel.com aggregate national car listings;
Redfin.com and move.com aggregate national real estate listings; Monster.com, Hotjobs! (which was recently acquired
by Monster) and CareerBuilder.com aggregate employment listings. All of these vertical-niche sites can be searched
locally. Finally, several services challenge established business models. Some nationally managed sites, such as Yelp and
OpenTable, also offer local information and services. Major search engines have also entered local markets. For
example, Google and Yahoo! have launched local services that offer directory information for local markets with
enhanced functionality, such as mapping and links to reviews and other information. In addition, other forms of digital
distribution, such as smartphones and e-readers, are also competitive with Company news sites.
The Herald circulates principally in Snohomish County, WA; its chief competitor is the Seattle Times, a daily newspaper
published in Seattle whose Snohomish County circulation is principally in the southwestern portion of the county. The
Enterprise Newspapers is distributed in south Snohomish County, where the principal competitors are the Seattle Times
and The Journal Newspapers, a group of monthly controlled-circulation newspapers. Numerous other newspapers and
shoppers are distributed in The Herald‘s and The Enterprise’s principal circulation areas. La Raza del Noroeste‘s principal
competitors in its circulation territory are the Spanish-language newspapers El Mundo and Tu decides, both weekly
publications delivering in eastern and western Washington territories, and with significantly lower circulation than La Raza
in the Puget Sound region. The chief competitor for the Snohomish County Business Journal is the Puget Sound Business
Journal.
The circulation of The Gazette Newspapers is limited to Montgomery, Prince George’s and Frederick counties and parts
of Carroll County, MD. The Gazette Newspapers compete with many other advertising vehicles available in their service
areas, including The Potomac and Bethesda/Chevy Chase Almanacs, The Western Montgomery Bulletin, The Bowie
Blade-News, The West County News and The Laurel Leader, weekly controlled-circulation community newspapers;
The Montgomery Sentinel, a weekly paid-circulation community newspaper; The Prince George’s Sentinel, a weekly
controlled-circulation community newspaper, which also has a weekly paid-circulation edition; and The Frederick News–
Post and Carroll County Times, daily paid-circulation community newspapers. The Southern Maryland Newspapers
circulate in southern Prince George’s County and in Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s counties, MD, where they also
compete with many other advertising vehicles available in their service areas, including the Calvert County Independent
and St. Mary’s Today, weekly paid-circulation community newspapers; the County Times, a free weekly; and The
Pennysaver, a shopper. The Fairfax County Times circulates in Fairfax County, VA, where it also competes with many
other advertising vehicles available in the service area, including Herndon–Reston Observer, Connections, Sun Gazette,
Chronicles and Examiner, which are all community newspapers. It also competes with the following shoppers:
Merchandiser, Buyer’s Guide and Val Pak.
The Examiner, a free newspaper containing national and international as well as local news, is being published six days
a week in northern Virginia, suburban Maryland and Washington, DC. The Examiner’s home edition is delivered to
targeted ZIP codes on Thursdays and Sundays. A street edition is distributed Monday through Friday within the
Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The Examiner competes in varying degrees with The Gazette Newspapers, Express
and The Washington Post.
The advertising periodicals published by Greater Washington Publishing compete with many other forms of advertising
available in their distribution area, as well as with various other free-circulation advertising periodicals.
El Tiempo Latino competes with other Spanish-language advertising media available in the Washington, DC, area,
including several other Spanish-language newspapers.
PNS competes for audiences and advertising revenues with television and radio stations, cable television systems and
video services offered by telephone companies serving the same or nearby areas; with direct broadcast satellite services;
and, to a lesser degree, with other media, such as newspapers and magazines. Cable television systems operate in
substantially all of the areas served by the Company’s television stations, where they compete for television viewers by
importing out-of-market television signals; by distributing pay-cable, advertiser-supported and other programming that
is originated for cable systems; and by offering movies and other programming on a pay-per-view basis. In addition,
DBS services provide nationwide distribution of television programming, including pay-per-view programming and
programming packages unique to DBS, using digital transmission technologies. The Company’s television stations may
also become subject to increased competition from low-power television stations, wireless cable services and satellite
master antenna systems, which can carry pay-cable and similar program material. In addition, major TV networks offer
some of their programming on their Internet sites free of charge.
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