The old business principal of “two’s company, three’s a crowd” is being tested in Woodinville, with publication of the 12-page inaugural issue of Northshore News, in direct competition with the venerable Woodinville Weekly, whose normal run these days is eight pages.
Since Carol Edwards founded the Weekly in 1976, it has pretty much had Northeast King County all to itself, with a controlled (i.e., free) circulation that peaked at 30,000. That changed when Eric LaFontaine bought the Weekly from the Edwards family in the Fall of 2019 and moved to a subscription-based circulation model, which was fine when there was no direct competition.
Comes now the News, published by Bob Kirkpatrick, former Weekly managing editor, which has a controlled circulation of 15,000 in the area from east of Woodinville to Bothell and Kenmore, giving it between three and four times greater circulation than the Weekly, which is tethered to a subscriber base believed to be fewer than 4,000 at the moment. Also, the News’ larger body type and four-column format (versus the Weekly’s six) would seem to be more appealing to the mature audience that both are targeting. Each paper has complementary websites.
It’s said that the “two’s company, three’s a crowd.” principle applies in business as well as romance.
Although I have no supporting stats, I do have lots of empirical evidence that the optimum situation is to have two department stores, two magazines, two radio formats, two businesses of whatever type in head-to-head competition. Any number(s) beyond two always seems to end in their failure.
It’s also why sporting events pitting two teams against one another are vastly more popular than individual events or round-robin tournaments.
There are two distinct benefits of head-to-head competition:
First, it provides an opportunity for comparison, whether you’re working for the business or are a prospective customer; and
Second, it ensures that each side will work harder to outdo the other, hence, providing a better product for the consumer.
I’ve had head-to-head competition my whole journalistic career, from the Associated Press (UPI) wire service to the weekly Auburn Globe-News (Auburn Citizen) to the daily Seattle Times (Seattle P-I) to the monthly MARKETING (Media Inc). I can assure you that my colleagues and I were constantly aware of—and driven by—the direct competition.
This is why residents of Northeast King County are fortunate to now have direct competition between the Weekly and News. And all involved—from the readers to the advertisers to the newspaper/website staffs—will be better off because of it.
But it remains to be seen, in this case, whether “two’s company”—or one too many!
—Larry Coffman
P.S. Kudos to daughter Melissa and son-in-law Scott Book’s Book House Publishing Co. for the design and production of both the inaugural issue of the News and the nshorenews.com website.