SNOOZE HIT WITH MORE WEB S(L)ITES
A close buddy and former business partner of Daily News Editor-In-Chief Martin Dunn has been hired to run the paper’s clunky Web site.
Stephen Lynas, who was managing director of Front of Mind, is joining the paper as the new senior vice president of Daily News Digital, the paper acknowledged yesterday.
Media Ink revealed back on Jan. 12 that Lynas had spent considerable time late last year and early this year sitting in the Daily News newsroom, working on the paper’s much delayed Web site relaunch. Lynas decamped back to London shortly after The Post’s story broke.
Despite any contribution that Lynas might have made to the revamped Web site, it hasn’t translated into more visitors. According to Nielsen Netratings, the Daily News Web site ranked 11th with 2.29 million unique visitors a month. By comparison, The Post’s Web site was sixth with 3.9 million unique visitors a month.
Late last month, Dunn axed Kevin Hayes, the Web site’s editor and a 14-year veteran of the paper.
It marked a change of heart for Dunn, who, shortly after the relaunch of the Web site, publicly heaped praise on Hayes for working under conditions “that no human should be forced to endure,” according to one insider who heard the toast. Several weeks later, Hayes was ousted.
There were some insiders who felt that Hayes had been made the scapegoat for the paper’s long-term Web problems, which stretched back at least a decade. Hiring the money-losing Front of Mind firm didn’t seem to fix the problem.
Our story in January also detailed how Dunn was still listed as a Front of Mind shareholder with 164,000 shares, according to documents filed at Companies House, which tracks financial documents of British companies. Lynas was also listed as a shareholder, with 50,000 shares.
Lynas, like Dunn, insisted he has severed his ties to Front of Mind.
“Front of Mind continues without me,” Lynas said. Asked if he remains a stockholder, he said, “Believe it or not, I signed a piece of paper that transferred all of my shares back to Front of Mind.”
At one point, Lynas was said to have boasted the he was “getting paid a s– load of money from Marc Kramer,” the Daily News CEO.
Lynas dismissed rumors that it was in the high six-figure range. “Our whole policy is to do things as cheaply as possible,” he insisted.
Asked if he was going to be named senior vice president at the paper, he said, “I’ll get back to you within the hour.”
Four hours later, a Daily News spokeswoman called to alert us to a press release announcing Lynas’ appointment. (Media Ink gets results!)
Lynas does not have a start date for his new job, but we do know he will oversee both the new Web editor, Adam Berkowitz, who was previously the News’ deputy sports editor, and the General Manager, Bianaca Janosevic, who was hired by Kramer.
Both Kramer and Janosevic are former New York Times executives.
New addition
House Beautiful is expanding its basic frame, with the magazine boosting its size this fall even as it prepares to take a 5 percent dip in its circulation base in January.
At 111-year-old House Beautiful is the oldest of the shelter titles, and can trace its roots back to Frank Lloyd Wright. Despite its storied past, there was a feeling in recent years that it was somewhat adrift in the fiercely competitive category.
Now under the regime of Editor-in-Chief Stephen Drucker and Publisher Kate Kelly Smith, the magazine seems to be on the upswing again.
Ad pages through July are up 10.2 percent to 375.85, according to Media Industry Newsletter. Its No. 1 rival, Condé Nast’s House & Garden, is down 2.88 percent, but is still ahead in total ad pages with 469.
In a turbulent 2006, House Beautiful was down 15 percent in pages while House & Garden was up 15 percent.
House Beautiful was estimated to have lost about $5 million in the year before Drucker arrived in October 2005.
When Drucker joined the title on Halloween of 2005, he was the fourth editor in five years. Now, with his original two-year contract set to expire in October, he seems poised to stay around.
Drucker wouldn’t comment on his own contract, but pointed out that the trim-size expansion – which the ad staff heard about for the first time on Monday – will take place with the November issue. It will involve pumping up its width by one inch to 9 inches, while keeping the current 10-inch height.
“Hearst wouldn’t be making this kind of commitment if they weren’t happy with the product and I’m very happy with them,” said Drucker, who added the move to a larger format was first proposed to him by Hearst President Cathie Black.
It also means that the magazine, which currently has a smaller frame than rivals such as Architectural Digest, Traditional Home and House & Garden, will instead jump up to a larger size in league with Elle Décor.
Hearst will boost the cover price to $4.50 from $3.95 in November. And, as part of the change, the company is going to scale back its circulation by about 5 percent to 800,000 a month, from 850,000.