Tribune sees huge demand for post-election newspapers

06 November 2008

On the day following Barack Obama's election as the next president of the United States, Tribune Company announced it was experiencing historic demand for its newspapers in each of the eight markets it serves across the country.

"This is a clear demonstration that people continue turning to their local newspaper to help them understand and interpret the news of the day, and that is especially true when big events happen," said Randy Michaels, Tribune's chief operating officer. "This kind of demand for our newspapers is unlike anything we've experienced in recent history. The traffic at our newspaper web sites is also way up - yesterday, the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times sites experienced a record-breaking number of page views."

In anticipation of the increased demand, Tribune newspapers increased press runs in some markets by as much as 10 per cent to 100 per cent. Many of the company's newspapers continuing printing additional copies throughout today yesterday.

Some highlights:

- The Los Angeles Times said it had expected to sell 100,000 more copies than it does on a typical Wednesday.

- Obama's hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, increased its press run on 4 November by several thousand copies and printed and distributed an additional 200,000 copies yesterday, 5 November.