Daily Racing Form Expanding Digital Efforts To Offer More
The Daily Racing Form (DRF) "appears to have found a survival strategy" while other publications struggle amid the downturn, as it "feeds its readers a product with news, analysis and data, and sells them more and deeper analytic information from its Web site," www.drf.com, according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. DRF Chair & Publisher Steven Crist: "Initially, the Internet was a small part of the company, but now I'd say that it's [10-20%]. We're not going to be selling more hard-copy newspapers in five years. I think we'll still be selling them, because there are still thousands of people who are tactile and sensual about their newsprint and Flair pens and marking up their Form. I don't think we're going digital any time soon." DRF VP/Internet Marc Attenberg "hopes that the next evolution in The Form's digital growth is the creation of mobile devices that can accommodate the intricacy and depth of performance charts." Still, Attenberg said 85% of visitors to the DRF's Web site "print out what they want and take it to the track or to their living room." Meanwhile, Crist said that the DRF's "unusual economics helped it endure the recession," and that "fewer than 10 people had been laid off this year, on a staff of about 200." Crist: "We're 90[%]-plus from circulation. So the advertising fall hasn't hurt much. I'm not saying we don't like or need advertising, but we're the most expensive newspaper in the world, at $5 or $6, and that's where our money comes from." DRF President & GM Jim Kostas said that circulation "averages nearly 33,000 copies daily," but that "less than 20 years ago, it was closer to 100,000." Still, Crist said the DRF is "absolutely ... profitable." Crist: "It's not even close. We turn over a lot of cash" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/6).
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