Gannett to distribute USA TODAY edition to 35 papers

• %27Butterfly%27 project is broadened to 31 additional newspapers after a trial at four dailies
• Aimed at increasing USA TODAY reach and allowing other papers to beef up local coverage
• Company cites %27positive feedback%27 from consumers and advertisers

Gannett said Wednesday it will begin inserting a condensed edition of USA TODAY daily into 31 additional newspapers early next year, a distribution strategy aimed at both beefing up local publications' content and widening its national paper's reach.

The McLean, Va.-based publisher launched the "Butterfly" initiative on Oct. 6 at The Indianapolis Star, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., and The Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wis. To prepare for the trial, five-day-a-week USA TODAY changed its operations to package its national and international news and enterprise stories into a seven-day-a-week insert distributed to the four papers.

"This is another step in the re-invention of news that Gannett is uniquely positioned to lead," said Gracia Martore, president and CEO of Gannett, which owns USA TODAY and 81 local newspapers. "With today's announcement, we are bringing the power of these brands together to delight and engage consumers like no one else can."

Gannett said at the time of the launch that other newspapers would be added if the test seemed successful. The 31 additional newspapers that will participate in the expansion will begin circulating the Butterfly edition in the first quarter of 2014. "We are thrilled by the positive feedback from consumers and advertisers in our pilot markets," said Robert Dickey, president of Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing division.

With national and international content coming from USA TODAY, Gannett's community newspapers will have more resources to devote to local coverage, Dickey said.

The Butterfly edition — including material from USA TODAY's News, Money, Sports and Life sections — typically contains about 10 pages on weekdays and as many as 22 pages on Sunday. USA TODAY Sports content is integrated into the local papers' sports pages. The digital version is also distributed with the e-edition of the local papers.

"This innovative content model creates stronger, higher-value local products and extends the reach of USA TODAY to millions of new consumers. This also gives USA TODAY a print presence seven days a week," said USA TODAY President and Publisher Larry Kramer. "This is a unique advantage for us."

The distribution plan allows USA TODAY to include the circulation figures from the local papers with its own total. Alliance for Audited Media, which audits newspaper circulation, has given its approval to that practice. The papers that will be part of the Butterfly initiative have a combined circulation of more than 1.5 million on weekdays and more than 2.5 million on Sunday, the company said.

When AAM's latest figures were released in October, USA TODAY regained its status as the nation's most widely circulated weekday newspaper. For the six-month period that ended Sept. 30 — the Butterfly edition made its debut on Oct. 6 — USA TODAY had a combined print and digital weekday circulation of 2.88 million. That compares with The Wall Street Journal's 2.27 million and The New York Times' 1.89 million.