Newspaper Innovation

After free daily Le Matin Bleu merged with competitor 20 Minutes in the French speaking part of Switzerland, the remaining paid title Le Matin saw the number of ads increasing.

In the beginning also 20 Minutes profited from the closure, but as the paper increased its rates in 2010, advertising dropped. The high price of the ads in 20 Minutes also made some advertisers move over to the paid title.

A third reason for the increased ad revenue of Le Matin is the fact that the paper now sells its own ads, instead of selling through Publicitas. (Persoenlich)

The website Examiner.com, part of the Examiner brand that also operates free daily newspapers in San Francisco and Washington, will go through a major redesign soon.

The website will also use a new Content Management System (Drupal 7) and is currently training its Examiners according to an article on ‘Content Farms’ in MediaShift.

The site attracts more than 13 million people in the U.S. monthly. Every month 90,000 pieces of content are published.

Examiner.com is available in 238 city sites with more than 42,000 Examiners that cover local affairs.

With profits again for Q2 2010 and without the burden of another loss-making edition (Greece), Metro seems to be heading to profitability in 2010, providing the second half of the year will not bring any unpleasant surprises. Earlier Metro divested the Italian and Portuguese editions.

The results for Q2 2010 showed a small net profit (€476,000) compared to a loss in Q2 2009. For first six months of 2010 Metro still showed a loss (€5.3m). This loss, however, was much lower than in 2009.

Results for Sweden (€3.3m EBIT profit in Q2) and Hong Kong were very good, while also Brazil and Mexico performed very well. Also Denmark, the Netherlands, Russia, Hungary and Chile showed a profit. The French edition reported a loss in Q2 2010.

Per Mikael Jensen, President and CEO:

Metro is on good track to full year EBIT profits. A more positive outlook in advertising markets allows us to re-confirm this message with greater confidence. Q3 is traditionally the weakest quarter for Metro, whereas Q4 is the strongest. The 2010 results will therefore to a great extent be determined in Q4.

In terms of readership, Russia, Canada, Hungary, the Czech Republic and particularly Brazil (+95%) performed positively. In most cases circulation was also higher in these markets.

Italian free daily City (RCS Mediagroup) introduced a free (of course) mobile version.

The news of  the day – sport, arts, Italian and international politics – is displayed, plus a section about “what’s going on” in your city (City has nine local editions).

There is also  the City Community, with opportunities to interact with other readers, play and win tickets with the CityPass.

The ‘app’ can be downloaded from the Nokia ovistore or from the City website for other platforms.

The celebrate the mobile version, City will update news content also during the summer this year, for the first time since its launch in 2001. Normally the paper – like most Italian free dailies – close down during the summer months.

The top 10 free newspapers (full 2009 circulation data) are:

1. Metro (UK): 1,334,000
2. Beijing Daily Messenger: 1,000,000*
3. Leggo (Italy): 963,000
4. City (Italy): 779,000
5. Headline Daily Hong Kong: 740,000
6. Metro Canada: 733,000
7. 20 Minutes France: 710,000
8. 20 Minuten Swiss: 701,000
9. Metro Korea: 700,000
10. 20 Minutos Spain: 687,000

* I have serious doubts about the reliability of the circulation of the Beijing Daily Messenger, my sources state the one million circulation, but others claim that it is 250,000 or even 180,000 to 200,000.

In that case the France Direct-Plus Group with 650,000 copies in 2009 is the 10th.

Metro Canada will launch a 8 week nationwide brand awareness campaign in October of this year. The campaign will have a budget of Can $ 2.9 million (€2.2 million).

The paper is read by 1.3 million Canadians daily, according to NADbank 2009 statistics. (MarketingMag)

The paper celebrated its tenth anniversary two weeks ago; it was launched in Toronto on June 29, 2000. There are now seven editions with a total circulation of 800,000.

The history of free dailies certainly shows rise and fall. A slow start in the first four years was followed by a permanent growth for the next 10 years. In 2008 there were 266 free papers published in 60 countries with a total average circulation of 42 million.

In 2009 and 2010 the number of countries dropped to 55, while the number of papers is less than 200 in July 2010. Circulation is now 35 million.

The largest drop in circulation and number of titles was in Europe. In 2007 there were 140 papers with a circulation of 27 million, in 2010 this is down to 87 papers with a circulation of 19.3 million.

Does this mean the business model of free newspapers coming to an end? Probably not. In Latin America and Asia there is no sign of decline. In Europe the market was so competitive that closures were probably inevitable.

What remains is a situation with less papers per market (3.6 per country), which is a more healthy model than in 2007 and 2008 (4.7 per country).

A note on method:

• Circulation is ‘average’ circulation, meaning that papers that are not published for the whole year (new entries and closed down papers) are only counted for the period they were published. The ‘end of year’ circulation differs somewhat from this number.
• Titles is the total number of titles published that year, including new and closed down titles.
• Countries indicate the number of countries with free newspapers during any moment of that year.

Spain

Holland

Metro International will acquire minimal 15 percent of the total equity of Publimetro Mexico from Inmobiliaria Torraco, S.A.

Torraco Investments now holds 23.54 percent of the company, valued at US$ 5.15m (€4m). Based on the current agreement, the third partner of Publimetro Mexico, MX Shares, has pre-emptive rights to acquire the remaining 8.54 percent of Torraco Investments, or else Metro will acquire the full 23.54 percent.

Metro now controls 49% of the shares, meaning it will be a majority shareholder once the deal is closed.

Publimetro Mexico recorded sales of €7.8 million in 2009, with high growth rates (50 percent in Q1) expected to continue in the coming years. The operation showed profitability in its second year after launch in 2007 with EBIT margins between 15-20 percent.

The paper distributes 180,000 daily copies in Mexico City and Monterrey.

Three Dutch newspaper publishers, Telegraaf Media Group, Wegener (part of Mecom) and NDC, will join efforts to distribute newspapers together in those parts of the country where Wegener and NDC distribute local newspaper. This includes all Dutch provinces except the Western part (North and South Holland) and Limburg.

As subscription is the dominant distribution model in the Netherlands (90% of the total circulation), cutting costs is the main goal of the operation.

Also free daily Spits, part of the Telegraaf Media Group, will be distributed by the new joint venture. As Wegener is in fact carrying out most of the distribution, this company will now distribute two free dailies, as it also takes care of the distribution of De Pers, the third free daily in the country (after Metro and Spits).

In December the new distribution model will start, and in 2011 it is expected to be fully operational.