If you are from a small paper, you will find special interest in the last paragraph where the CEO of the mighty New York Times complains about advertising discounts being offered by rival Wall Street Journal in it's new NY edition. Bigger papers - same problems.

From Paid Content.org: Full story here

Online ad revenue gains at the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) are hovering around 18 percent, the same as in Q1, said CEO Janet Robinson, speaking earlier at the JP Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. National auto and banking were the main drivers for the NYTimes.com in Q1 and continue to be pumping revenue to the site. In particular, JP Morgan’s Chase Sapphire credit card has been the exclusive advertiser on the NYT’s iPad app. While Robinson and Martin Nisenholtz, the NYTCo’s SVP of digital operations, discussed the virtues of the iPad as an additional revenue stream during their presentation, they also gave a few small updates on next January’s introduction of the metered paywall on the site. For one thing, Nisenholtz said that news on the homepage would remain outside the paywall.

Asked about the pay model, Robinson said that the company recognizes the need for “multiple revenue sources.” She compared it to the print side of the NYT, which relies on both circulation and ad revenues. “It’s important to note that the New York Times has a large digital advertising base already and we have already been very successful with cost-per-click, particularly at the About Group, but we’ve also secured a great deal of display advertising.”

Perhaps with an eye toward the recent competition from the WSJ in New York and other local areas, Robinson spoke about the existing relationship with marketers that the paper had formed, which helped it transition to single print/digital ad sales team.

Following that lead-in, JP Morgan analyst Alexia Quadrani asked Robinson about past statements she had made about the WSJ’s deep ad discounts, which were meant to undermine the NYT’s relationships with major advertisers. Robinson had previously characterized the WSJ’s pricing as “irrational” and her view hasn’t changed. “They’re playing a volume game, we’re playing an engagement game,” Robinson said. “It has had no impact on us. We’re aggressive when it comes to selling custom packages, yes, absolutely. Are we making sure we have our marketing programs in place? Sure, but this is standard course of business.”