Newspapers try out new schemes to generate income

US newspaper The Boston Globe will soon join a growing number of newspapers nationwide that are selling front-page advertisements as a way to generate additional income.

Globe spokesman Bob Powers said today that the newspaper will start publishing front-page ads during the first quarter of this year, but is still working out the details, such as price, size, and location on the page.

The news follows closely on the heels of The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, announced that it would sell front-page advertising and published an ad across the bottom of its flagship paper, The New York Times, which said it would sell display advertising on its front page, its latest step to seek new ways to make money as it deals with a prolonged ad revenue downturn.

Because of their prominent placement, these ads often can bring in much more money than ones sold inside the paper.

In recent years, some of the biggest US newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, have been running front-page as the industry battles revenue and circulation declines and readers migrate to the Internet.

''Newspapers have to come up with more innovative offerings to advertisers and leverage the strength of the print product,'' Powers said. ''It provides a premium position for advertisers.''

The London-based The Times, like other US newspaper publishers, is trying to stay healthy and pay off debt even as the world financial crisis exacerbates an already alarming decline in ad revenue.