World Press Trends: Newspaper Circulation and Advertising Up Worldwide

The circulation of newspapers in the world increased 2.1 percent last year, and, at the same time, newspaper advertising revenues made significant gains, said Mr Balding, presenting WAN’s annual survey of world press trends.

"It has been an extraordinarily positive 12 months for the global newspaper industry," said Mr Balding. "We have come to expect big circulation gains in developing countries, but it has been a very long time since we saw such a revival in so many mature markets. Newspapers are clearly undergoing a renaissance through new products, new formats, new titles, new editorial approaches, better distribution and better marketing."

  Circulation grew 2.1 percent worldwide in 2004, taking global sales to a new high of 395 million daily.

  The total number of daily titles was up 2 percent in the world in 2004 and up 4.6 percent since 2000.

  2004 saw the best advertising performance in four years, with a revenue increase of 5.3 percent.

More details here

The 700-page World Press Trends 2005 edition, which includes information on all 215 countries where newspapers are published, is now available by clicking here or by contacting the World Association of Newspapers, 7 rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00, Fax +33 1 47 42 49 48. E-mail: contact_us@wan.asso.fr.

New newspaper concepts for young readers and new audiences

More newspapers have been created in Germany in the past year than in the last 60. But they’re not big, general interest papers -- they’re targeted newspapers aimed for specific markets, primarily younger readers.

"It is not possible to have a target group for 14- to 75-year olds. I don’t know any other industry that has a huge target group covered by one product," Mr Grabner says of traditional newspapers.

The Holtzbrinck Group is responsible for many of the launches -- weekly popular science paper, a regional newspaper devoted to health, a local business newspaper, a weekly regional tabloid, and several general interest newspapers for younger readers.

Mr Holtzbrinck described the market research that led to the creation of the new products.

Here are two items from Holtzbrinck’s internal "to do" list to for new innovative newspapers:

  Develop products according to the customers’ needs, rather than by geography, by using new market research methods and recognize needs.

  Make products for target groups, not one product for everyone. Discard the idea of a regional newspaper for the 14-75 year-old target group.

It Not Only About the Size

Thinking about a tabloid conversion? Mr Bouchat has some advice for you.

"It’s not just a question of size. It’s a question of concept, content and identification of the people working for it. I can tell you that it was more difficult to change the habits of our staff than the habits of our readers."

Mr Bouchat’s advice is worth listening to because his experience with tabloid conversion occurred in 2001, long before the current wave of compact editions. Unlike the current wave, the results of his conversion are already known.

In 2001, the Le Matin daily in the French-speaking part of Switzerland was in deep trouble. "We first thought we’d make some small changes, some corrections would be enough to help it. Then we realized that the world had changed. We were no longer in a relaunch mood. We realized we had to go through a profound revolution."

Edipresse, which owns the newspaper, did something that no business school would recommend: they changed the management and the target group of customers, at the same time.

And they shrunk the newspaper.

Mr Bouchat’s presentation focused on this process and the lessons learned.

One key lesson: halving the page size doesn’t mean halving the advertising rate. But a lower rate -- 22 percent lower in Le Matin’s case -- is necessary.

Renewal, Revival, Rebirth

Sweden would appear to be a paradise for newspapers -- nearly everyone reads at least one. The country is ranked fourth worldwide in terms of papers per inhabitant.

But Stockholm is a battlefield for any media, and is perhaps the most competitive media environment on earth, says Mr Braun.

"Against this background, with an explosion of new opportunities for advertisers to reach customers, one might fear the worst when it comes to the fortunes of the established press," said Mr Braun. But he presented several examples that showed this was not necessarily so.

Mr Braun’s presentation included case studies of how Bonnier’s business daily, Dagens Indusri -- a "renewal", -- its morning daily Dagens Nyheter - a "revival" - and its evening tabloid Expressen -- a "rebirth" -- all have made gains in this competitive market. Mr Braun said:

"I must underscore that you cannot replace development of the paper itself by line extensions and new supplements. Most important is that you continuously improve the mother product, that you work on editorial quality in every aspect from news reporting of the highest standard to eliminating spelling errors.

"You have to be careful and not surprise your readers with revolutionary face lifts of someone they are used to having breakfast with each morning. And above all, be true to your heritage and the characteristics of the paper -- whatever made it a success in the first place."