I can't say this has never happened before, but I noticed something while reading the LA Times at breakfast this morning: it had no ads. The A section had literally not a single ad, and the B section had a few obituaries and classified ads, but not a single display ad. Not one.
This is not to say there was nothing at all. Saturday is the day for the weekly "Hot Property" supplement, which is a thick—and profitable—collection of high-end real estate for sale. So the Times is not quite without any ad revenue at all.
Still, not a single display ad in the entire regular newspaper. If you want to know why local papers are failing, this is a sign of the times.
Odd. I read the San Francisco Chronicle. In today’s section A six out of twelve pages had ads.
I read the PDF version, not the printed paper. I actually look at the ads as sometimes they have some useful information about local merchants. I hate the online ads that appear suddenly blocking all content while you are reading a web page.
Looks like the entire newspaper is 8 pages long now?
I think the implication is different: that, for some reason, the newspaper doesn't think it needs to sell ads in that space. They think they're making up the revenue in other places. I think that's worse.
Maybe it's because Jesus spent the day dead, and advertising while Jesus is dead is kind of gauche?
I've got news for all y'all about obits:
https://placeanad.latimes.com/publications/los-angeles-times/obituary/
I stopped reading the obituaries after they changed it to be all about dead people.
Lemme tell ya about another local paper. I've been taking the San Jose Mercury-News for decades. Each quarter I get a bill, and each quarter I'm shocked, and think seriously about canceling. The bill this quarter? $524. Which works out to about $6/day. My next-door neighbor couldn't take it this time. Although she's by no means poor, she says she called them up, told them "it's too much", and canceled. I didn't only because of a lack of credible alternative. At least, I assume the SF Chron would cost as much. Maybe I should verify that...
"...The bill this quarter? $524 .."
The NYT seems to be $10 a week here in a New York suburb. But that appears to be an introductory rate for a year. Perhaps you should switch papers every year.