Newspaper Innovation

Free dailies Metro (2004) and am New York (2003) have been competiting for the top spot in readership since they launched.

AM New York had more readers during the first years, Metro took over between 2008 and 2010; in 2011 and 2012 am New York had more readers but this year Metro (733,000 readers against 718,000 for am New York) took over again according to Scarborough research.

Metro reaches 4.4% of the New York population on an average day, am New York 4.3%. On a weekly basis Metro reaches 8.8% of the New Yorkers, am New York 8.2%. (Metro Press Release)

As both papers have a circulation of around 325,000 this means that an average paper is read by more than two readers.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is still the best-read paper in the Philadelphia area, reaching 775,000 people.

Free daily Metro is closing in – growing from 266,000 in 2010 tot 291,000 in 2013.

In the 21-54 age group Metro (203,000 readers) surpassed the Inquirer (198,000 readers).

Free daily 20 Minutos – until 2009 the best-read newspaper in Spain – lost 13% of its readers compared to 2012 according to the last AIMC survey.

20 Minutos is now the third paper in Spain (1.7 million readers) after sports paper Marca (2.9 million) and el Paìs (1.9 million). Also Marca (-5%) and el Paìs (-3%) lost readers.

All other Spanish papers – except El Periodico – lost readers, even the three other sports papers As (-4%), El Mundo Deportivo (-5%) and Sport (-6%).

Small differences could be the result of different survey periods – the 2013-I survey was conducted between April 2012 and March 2013, the 2012 data concern the whole of 2012.

Free daily Heute saw readership increase with 7% in 2012 compared to 2011 to just below the 1 million mark: 998,000. Heute is again the second best-read paper in the country, reaching 13.9% of the population against 37.4% for Kronen Zeitung. Marketleader Kronen Zeitung saw readership drop with 1% to 2.7 million.

In Vienna, Heute reaches 42% (617,000) of the population against 32.5% (477,000 readers) for Kronen Zeitung.

Third paper Kleine Zeitung lost 4% of its readers. Free/paid daily Österreich (fourth) saw reaereship drop with 7%.

Kurier saw readership increase with 6%. Quality paper Der Standard (6th) is stable with 358,000 readers. (data: Media-analyse.at)

Norwegian mediahouse Schibsted announced in its annual report 2012 that Spanish free daily 20 Minutos lost €6.9 million in 2012 (€3.6 million in 2011), even after the paper closed seven editions in Spain.

Operating revenues went down from €22.3 million (2011) to €17.4 million in 2012.

After the summer, the editions for Alicante, Murcia, Bilbao, Valladolid (the last edition right), Coruna, Vigo and Asturias did not return.

2o Minutos is now only published in Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Zaragoza, Valencia, Malaga, Granada and Cordoba. Its circulation is down to 560,000 (in 2007 it was over a million).

As all national competitors of 20 Minutos closed down during the last years – Metro in 2009, ADN in 2011, Qué! in 2012 – the loss shows how extremely difficult the Spanish advertising market is.

In Mexico 20 Minutos, however, launched a digital version of the paper.

In France sister paper 20 Minutes (50 share) showd a small profit of €1.5 million.

Readership of 20 Minutos dropped with 10% from 2.1 million to 1.9 million. Because of this 20 Minutos is now the third paper in Spain after sports paper Marca (+2% in readership) and El Paìs (+1%) according to the latest EGM-data.

The class differences in the UK are reflected in the readership profiles of the newspapers, with The Guardian, The Times and The Daily Telegraph having 85% or more of their readers in the ABC1 group.

At the other end the Daily Star, The Sun, The Record and The Mirror have less than 40% in that group.

Although social class is rather stable for for most papers, The Evening Standard (8% less in ABC1), The Daily Star (-6%) and Metro (-5%) show substantial changes. (data: NRS)

The Daily Star, the Evening Standard and The Independent are the ‘malest’ papers with 60% or more of the readers being male.

The Daily Mail and the Daily Express are at the other end: 50% or more female.

Only the two free dailies in UK and four paid papers (Daily Star, The Sun, The Independent and The Guardian), have more than 50% of their readers in the “below 45″ age group.

The data from NRS is from 2006 and 2011 – in 2012 NRS used different age groups so data can not be compared.

The two free dailies have the youngest readership in 2011: around 70% is in the 15-45 group. The Daily, The Express and The Daily Telegraph have less than 30% in this group.

Surprisingly, the new ‘i’ paper has only  40% of their readers in this group, comparable to The Times and The Daily Mirror.

All papers saw the 45+ group grow in the five years between 2006 and 2011, the Daily Star with 14%, the Mail and Record with 8% and the Express with 7%.

Even Metro saw the older group increase with 6%; the Evening Standard is the exception (as a result of going free) and saw the younger group increase. (click for bigger version)

Later today: data on social grades differences between titles and male/female readership.

Except for the rise in readership of the light (and cheap) ‘i’, every UK paper saw its readership decline in 2012 compared to 2011 according to NRS survey data for January – December 2012.

The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Express saw readership slide with 14 and 16 %, The Daily Record and The Independent saw a 8% decline. The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Star and The Guardian lost 6%.

Even free dailies Metro and Evening Standard – usually seeing readership grow – showed a 1% decline.

Compared to 2006 both Metro (+73%) and the Evening Standard (+102% after the move to free distribution) increased readership. The Independent, The Daily Record, The Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph lost a third of their readers (click on graph for bigger version)

Later today: data on age profiles of UK newspapers, social grades differences between titles and male/female readership.

All major Italian newspapers lost readers in 2012 compared to 2011 according to the latest Audipress survey.

Only sports paper Tuttosport showed an increase of 3% in readership. The two other sport papers La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport-Stadio both lost 3% of their readers. They are still the first and the fourth best-read paper in the country with a readership of 4.1 and 1.8 million.

Paid papers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera (2 and 3, both with 3 million readers) lost 15 and 14% of their readers. La Stampa (no. 5) even lost 28%.

Free dailies Leggo (7, 1.3 million readers) lost 30% after cutting down circulation. Metro is now the 6th paper with 1.4 million readers. Free daily Dnews lost one third of their readers. (click for bigger version)

Free daily Israel Today keeps growing in readership. In 2012 the paper reached 39% of population, against 38% in the year before. Yediot Ahronot also saw its reach go up, from 36% in 2011 to 37% in 2012.

Maar’iv contonues to slide (11% in 2012) while Haaretz has a stable circulation the last three years. There is no data available on free daily Israel Post for the last two years. (Globes) (click on graph for bigger version)