U.S. Consumer Time Spent With Media Fell For First Time In 2023 (mediapost.com)

The Chicago Reader, an alternative nonprofit newspaper, is returning to weekly print production. The first weekly issue will be on June 5. The paper had reverted to a bi-weekly schedule in June 2020. The increased schedule reflects several imperatives. For one, “Chicago’s creative, civic, and cultural concerns don’t reproduce on a biweekly basis, nor do they circulate equitably from behind an online paywall,” writes Solomon Lieberman, CEO & Publisher of the Reader Institute for Community Journalism, which publishes the Reader.

A number of big summer bestsellers, a surge in interest in books on social justice, and ongoing demand by parents for children’s books that both educate and entertain combined to continue to push up unit sales of print books through this year’s third quarter. According to NPD BookScan, print unit sales rose 6.4% for the nine months ended Oct. 3, 2020 over the comparable span in 2019. Unit sales jumped 29.1% in the juvenile nonfiction category, led by huge demand for Big Preschool Workbook, which sold nearly 649,000 print copies in the period, and My First Learn-to-Write Workbook by Crystal Radke, which sold almost 595,000 copies.

Third quarter operating income improved due to higher revenue per shipment and a net fuel benefit at all transportation segments. The quarter's results also benefited from lower variable compensation expense and less severe winter weather, resulting in favorable year-over-year comparisons. The improved results were partially offset by the effects of the Omicron variant, as well as higher purchased transportation costs and wage rates. FedEx Ground operating results declined primarily due to increased rates for purchased transportation and employee wages, network inefficiencies, and expansion-related costs. These costs were partially offset by higher revenue per package, a boost from two additional ground commercial operating weekdays, and a net fuel benefit. Average daily volume was flat, as Ground Economy declined and growth in commercial and FedEx Home Delivery services was constrained by the effects of the Omicron variant. FedEx Freight third quarter operating income nearly tripled, driven by a continued focus on revenue quality and profitable growth. Revenue per shipment increased 19% and average daily shipments grew 2% during the quarter, while the operating margin increased 850 basis points to 15.0%.