February 05, 2004
Hoy, Journal Team Up
The Wall Street Journal will create a weekly eight-page insert of news and columns for Hoy, the Tribune Co.'s expanding network of Spanish-language tabloids.
This is another smart move by Louis Sito, who began Hoy in 1998 in New York, where it now has a circulation of 100,000. Last year, Hoy expanded into Chicago and this spring it is due to launch an edition in Los Angeles, taking on the venerable La Opinion, which has been forced to form its own partnerships in response to Hoy's expansion. [ Read: ¡Viva la Competencia! ]
Hoy's collaboration with the Journal buys it a level of credibility for national and international financial news and adds to my belief that Sito, the Tribune executive who is the force behind Hoy's expansion, may soon become, if he is not already, the publisher with the largest circulation in the nation's fastest growing demographic.
After its launch in Los Angeles, Hoy will publish in three of the four largest U.S. Hispanic markets. The fourth is Miami. Tribune owns two newspapers in central and south Florida - the Orlando Sentinel and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, each of which publishes its own weekly Spanish-language edition. It seems to be only a matter of time before Sito and Hoy move into Florida.
The larger lesson Hoy offers all U.S. newspapers involves adaptation to market. There are untapped audiences out there for daily news - some of them are young, some of them prefer electronic over paper editions, and some of would rather read in Spanish than in English. All it takes to attract these readers is vision, will and, of course, investment - in a other words, innovation and risk.
Links
Washington Post Journal Will Produce Insert In Spanish
American Journalism Review Dismantling the Language Barrier