Newspaper Innovation

The Spanish organization for the free press AEPG (Asociación Española de la Prensa Gratuita), published a report on all free publications available in the capital Madrid.

The “La Guía de Publicaciones gratuitas de Madrid” was edited and compiled by the University Complutense of Madrid and the AEPG.

The study was conducted at the end of 2009  and contains a study by professor Fernando Peinado, and also information on 140 publications, divided into three groups: local information, national information and technical information.

The study is available for €30 via the website of the AEPG.

Circulation of free dailies is declining all over Europe while in all countries titles and editions closed down. France, however, seems to be the exception: circulation increased except for a small drop in 2009 while only one of the 30 editions that ever were launched in France closed down. In 2009 and 2010 four new editions were launched.

Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Nice, Rennes/Nantes, Toulouse, and Strasbourg have three different titles in the morning while Paris has a free evening paper as well.

Metro (with TF1 holding a 34.5% stake) was first on the scene in February 2002 in Paris and Marseille. A month later Lyon followed while editions for Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux, Nice, Rennes/Nantes and Strasbourg were launched in 2004 and 2005. In 2009 Metro cut circulation with 10% to 660,000.

20 Minutes (Schibsted, 50% Sofiouest/Groupe Ouest France) entered in March 2002 in Paris and launched seven more editions in 2004 and 2005; in March 2010 a Nice edition was added. Also 20 Minutes cut circulation in 2009 with 10%.

Local free papers by publishers of the local paid paper, united under the Ville Plus brand were launched in Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulon and Montpellier. Only the Toulon edition did not survive.

Millionaire Vincent Bolloré started in 2006 with free Paris evening paper Direct Matin, while he added Paris morning paper Direct Matin Plus in 2007. In Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse he launched free dailies under the Ville Plus flag as well. The ‘Direct’ brand is also used for his TV-channel and free sports weekly. Bolloré cut circulation of his papers in 2009 with 25%.

In 2009 circulation dropped with 12% but in 2010 circulation increased again because of the launch of 20 Minutes in Nice. The number of editions increased from 5 in 2002 to 23 in 2005 and 29 in 2010.

In the March/April newsletter (no. 55):

• The French miracle: no closures but launches
• Barometer: 1999-2010 America’s
• Launch of 20 Minutes Nice
• Circulation cuts in the Netherlands, Portugal & Denmark
• Dutch, Danish, UK, Austrian, Swiss, Canadian, French & Polish readership
• Online: print recognition, user’s pictures & web partners
• Publishers: Tamedia, Agora, Ringier & Bolloré
• Welt Aktuell expansion
• Israel Today weekend edition
• No Sunday paper for Heute
• Moscow Times full color
• Frettabladid cuts & sacks
• Book on De Pers

The newsletter can be downloaded from here.

Free daily De Pers, launched in 2007 as the third Dutch free daily is the subject of a book of free lance journalist Govert Schilling.

In “Gratis maar niet goedkoop” (Free but not cheap) Schilling covers the turbulent history of the paper. The ambition was to become the largest – and the best – newspaper in the Netherlands within one year.

The ambitions, however, almost killed the paper. It launched a Saturday edition, experimented with a fee business paper, introduced door-to-door distribution, published books, but mostly burned money at a fast pace.

Last year the paper cut down on circulation (from 500,000 in the first year to 200,000) while it was saved by regional publisher Wegener (Mecom) that took over distribution, printing and sales.

In 2009 the average free circulation in Europe dropped with 19% from 26.2 to 21.3 million. When we compare average circulation in 2010 with 2009 another drop of 9% can be recorded. The number of countries with free dailies went down from 33 in 2008 to 32 a year later (-Estonia) and to 29 (-Turkey, -Ukraine and -Lithuania) in 2010.

In 2007 there were 139 titles published in Europe; that number dropped to 82 in 2010. This also means less competition; in 2006 and 2007 there were 4.5 different free titles published on average in every country; in 2010 this is only 2.8.

As can be seen in the graph, the number of titles is now less than in 2005, although circulation is still higher, an indication that more smaller papers have closed down. In 2006 the average circulation of a free daily was 160,000; in 2010 it was 240,000.

Average circulation differs from ‘end of year’ circulation. In the ‘end of year’ circulation only free dailies that are published at the end of December are taken into account – closed down papers are not included while papers launched during that particular year count in full. For papers that are published throughout the year, however, auditing organizations use average circulation. Therefore it makes sense to use average circulation for all papers.

This means that closed down papers are now also taken into account while new launches are partly included. A paper closed down at the end of October is included for 10/12 of its circulation, papers launched in the beginning of November for 2/12. In years with more closures than launches the average circulation is higher than the ‘end of year’ circulation (that would be 19.6 million for 2009).

In the February newsletter:

• Average European free circulation down with 19% in 2009; and with 9% in 2010
• Average circulation per title rises; less competition in most countries
• Springer launches free airline daily
• 32 editions of Adevarul de seara within one year
• Unions fight Direct Matin
• Ads: free weekly with condom, free daily with bullet holes
• 15 years of Metro
• 10 years 20 Minutos
• Austrian publisher quarrel over racks
• and news from Turkey, UK, Belgium, Israel, USA and Macedonia

The newsletter can be downloaded from here.

In the January newsletter:

• Cuts & closures in Europe
• Barometer: all closed down free papers since 1999
• Launch: Metro Herald Ireland
• Closures: Estonia now without free dailies
• Circulation: Spain drops with 43%, UK with 500,00o; expansion in the Netherlands
• Wraps in Singapore
• Metro Canada teams up with social network FourSquare
• Anti-Adelson law in Israel
• New Bolloré printer goes on strike
• Basque free dailies and weeklies
• Research: Canada, Bangladesh

All issues can be downloaded from the newsletter page.

Today I am at a symposium “Nieuwsbeleving” (experiencing news) organized by the Hogeschool van Amsterdam.

Students are presenting all kinds of new news products: web papers, newspapers for senior citizens, geo-targeted news websites, free products… and an eatable newspaper.

PietEatsPaper

In Bart Beaty, Derek Briton (Eds) (2009). “How Canadians Communicate III: Contexts of Canadian Popular Culture”, Will Straw published an chapter (no. 3) on free dailies in Canada.

The chapter mainly focuses on the changes in the public space of the media landscape in Canadian cities; competition between paid and free papers, distribution and pollution.

This chapter (Hawkers and public space; Free Commuter Newspapers in Canada) is available as a pdf-file online as well.

Already in January 2009, two students from the Blekinge Institute of Technology School of Management (Sweden), Yousuf Chapal & Md. Mahbubur Rahman published their Master Thesis in Business Administration on the possibilities of launching a free daily in Bangladesh.

They conclude that it would be possible to launch such a paper in the country. For their research they interviewed publishers, advertisers and newspaper readers.

The thesis can be downloaded from essays.se.