A decade after USA Today's launch, Gannett found itself in the enviable position of owning one of America's most successful newspapers. USA Today was the most widely read newspaper in the country, with daily' readership of over 3.7 million (readership numbers are higher than paid circulation numbers due to the passing of copies to other readers). In an era when nearly all major national media were suffering declines in readership or viewing audience, USA Today continued to grow. Rising distribution and promotion costs, however, were beginning to make the newspaper slightly unprofitable. To reverse this trend, USA Today created several spin-offs, including its first special interest publication, Baseball Weekly. During its first month of operation, Baseball Weekly's circulation reached 250,000 copies. Baseball Weekly was eventually expanded to include a variety of sports
coverage and was renamed Sports Weekly. At the end of 2007, Sports Weekly was ranked the highest sports magazine in newsstand sales. Due to the success of the Sports Weekly format, USA Today launched a similar magazine in March 2009. USA Today's Open Air magazine was geared toward the "busy, well-informed, affluent customer" and designed to inspire "millions of readers to find adventure and its rewards in their everyday lives." According to USA Today, "Open Air offers a compelling new look at the possibilities for adventure that surround us each day-from regular activities like improving your golf game with a stretch the pros use, or finding the best gear for your next softball tournament, to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like a six-day hike into the spectacular Rio Grande Gorge in New Mexico." However, rather than marketing the publication as a stand-alone product. Open Air was used to increase demand in the print sector and made available four times a year in Friday editions of USA Today. Also, venturing into news media, USA Today joined with CNN to produce a football TV program and launched Sky-Radio to provide live radio on commercial airline flights.
The major spin-off, in terms of current success and future potential, was USA Today Online, which the company introduced on April 17, 1995. The online version was seen as a natural companion to the print version of USA Today, given the paper's worldwide distribution. The first version was available through CompuServe's Mosaic browser and required special software, a CompuServe Network connection, and a monthly subscription of $14.95 plus $3.95 per hour. By June of 1995, USA Today Online converted to a free service that worked with any web browser and Internet service provider. The "online" was later dropped in favor of USAToday.com.
Like its print sister, USAToday.com is bright, upbeat, and full of nugget-sized news stories. The online version allows readers to receive up-to-the-moment news that incorporates colorful visuals and crisp audio. It provides one of the most extensive sites on the Internet, featuring thousands of pages of up-to-the-minute news, sports, business and technology news, four-day weather forecasts, and travel information available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Another revenue generator, launched in 1998 in response to frequent reader requests for archived material, was the pay-per-view archives service ( http:ffarchives . usatoday.com). The USA Today Archives section allows readers to do a free, unlimited search of the paper's articles that have appeared since April 1987. Articles may be downloaded for $3.95 per story or as a part of the site's monthly and yearly service plans.
Because USA Today is not an operation that rests on its laurels, the website has been updated several times. A number of partnerships have been added to the site in the areas of online classifieds and a marketplace where users can purchase a variety of goods and services. The company added a companion travel site in 2002.