Newspaper Innovation

With the closure of Urban, Berlingske’s (Mecom) free daily in Denmark, the number of free dailies in the country is down to two.Circulation is now 360,000.

Only 5 years ago there were 11 free dailies in Denmark with a total circulation of more than 2 million.

With the closure of Urban, 87 people will lose their job, although Berlingske claims it will be relaunched a digital platform under the same brand.

Berlingske CEO Lisbeth Knudsen says in a press release (via MediaWatch) that the economic crises and the recession force Berlingske to cost savings, and suggests that the closure is also part of the digital and mobile transition strategy of the company that aims for consolidation and acquisitions in the future.

Kundsen suggest that the closure is expansion in disguise: “We have therefore decided to rethink the Urban brand and change it to a whole new and exciting media concept with new partnerships, where digital will play the main role.”

This is obviously crap. Urban has been losing money during the last years, saw fierce competition from the two Metro papers MetroXpress and 24timer and also ‘forgot’ to apply for press subsidies in the past.

Mecom as a whole is losing big money while the Danish part of the company also lost money in the first 6 months of 2011 – in fact only the Netherlands and Norway (about to be sold) showed a profit.

Urban started in September 2001, three weeks after the launch of MetroXpress in Denmark as a defensive move of the publishers of Berlingske and tabloid BT. The first four years showed promising results but after the freesheet-craze hit the country in 2006 (5 national titles and 4 local ones), the paper never recovered.

Metro closed a deal with competitor JP/Politiken, who got 24.5% of the company and handed over their free daily 24Timer. Urban brought back the 7 editions to only 2 and lowered circulation from 240,000 in 2006 to 200,000 in 2011. Readership dropped from more than 600,000 in 2006 to 233,000 in 2011. (See also Aske Kammer’s blog for an analysis.)

The last issue of Urban will be published tomorrow.

How total circulation in Denmark changed can be seen in the graph below (click for enlargement).

No less than 59 newspapers will receive money from the Danish Press Fund in 2012. The total amount is 347 million Danish kroner (€47 million).

The pdf of the complete list can be viewed here and shows that 26 foreign newspapers receive €420,000 in total.

Among these ‘ailing’ papers are USA Today (€180), The Independent (€390), The Guardian (€960), IHT (€33,000) and The Financial Times (€95,000).

This could be the last year that non-Danish papers will get a subsidy as there is much resistance in parliament against this part of the law. The largest subsidy for a ‘foreign’ paper, however, goes to German Danish language paper Flensborg Avis (€120,000).

The bulk of the money goes to Danish newspapers. Kristeligt Dagblad will get €3.8 million, Information will receive €3.5 million this year.

Børsen, BT, Berlingske, Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, Politiken and free dailies metroXpress and 24timer (both majority owned by Metro International) will each get €2.6 million. Free daily Urban (Berlingske, Mecom) is missing from the list of main benificiaries.

For Metro the subsidy is good news, as there is a discussion going on in Denmark about the press subsidies in general and in particular those for free papers (see previous post). Without the subsidy not only Metro Denmark would lose money, but the whole company would suffer.

Mecom, with eight titles getting a subsidy, profits much more. In total the loss-making company receives almost €11 million in subsidies in 2012.

VAT on newspapers (subscription and single copy sales) in Denmark is zero percent.

Metro International announced that it has increased its stake in Metro St Petersburg from 58.5 percent to 95 percent by buying shares from the Russian owners.

The St Petersburg Metro started in 1997 as a weekly, in 2004 it went daily, a year later it became a Metro International franchise.

In 2009 Metro International acquired a majority (58.5 percent) in the operation.

The Moscow Metro is operated as a Metro International franchise. Combined circulation is almost 800,000.

After Metro Colombia, also Metro Holland introduced a new design (left) for the free daily (click for bigger version).

The new look by Alfredo Triviño who was also responsible for the current design, is more “serious” with less colour and smaller headings. Metro Denmark will also soon introduce the new design.

From January 2 on, readers who send in a picture that is used for the Dutch edition of Metro, will be paid for their efforts.

Metro is cooperating with Scoopshot, a service that works for professional and amateur photographers. Photographers have to download an app for either Android (right) or iPhone to offer news photo’s.

In some cases Metro will ask for photo’s on special occasions and set the price in advance, but users can also upload other photo’s and define their own price. Media have 48 hours to buy the picture – if a picture is bought exclusively the price is 10 times as high.

In Denmark and Sweden, Metro already uses Scoopshot for reader-photo’s. Also other media – particularly in Finland – have used Scoopshop photo’s.

The last issue of free Spanish daily ADN will be published this Friday. After a little more than 5 years the paper, operated by Planeta and local publishers, has closed down. (El Mundo)

ADN published editions in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, Málaga, Mallorca, Sevilla, Zaragoza and Lleida with a total circulation of 550,000.

Earlier (2008 and 2009) eight editions of the papers were closed. One year after the launch ADN had a circulation of almost one million and published two dozen editions.

After Metro (2009) ADN is the second national free daily that closed down in Spain. Only 20 Minutos (700,000 copies, 15 editions) and Qué! (600,000 copies, 10 editions) remain.

Also a dozen local free dailies are published in Spain. Total circulation is now around 1.6 million. In 2006 this was 5 million.

Around 60 people will lose their job because of the closure.

Winners of Metro Photo Challenge are now online. Great pics.

The graph below shows it all. Readership for almost all Danish newspapers keeps on declining.

Jyllands Posten lost more than half of its readers in the last 14 years, Politiken lost a third.

Free dailies Metro (still no. 1), 24Timer and Urban lost readers as well. The last title lost 60% of its readers compared to 2005.

Distributing free newspapers in the subway of Rome will be more expensive from 2012 on. Also the winner of the bid will have to provide more space in the paper for the Rome city counsel.

Companies have to make a bid – apparently for exclusive distribution rights – before January 12 2012. Publishers think the price is too high while the conditions are also difficult to meet. (Affaritaliani)

The fierce competition between free dailies in Italy has cause Leggo to shut down all regional editions outside Rome and Milan.

Three companies are now publishing free dailies in Rome: Caltagirone (Leggo), RSC Media group (City), DNews and Litosud (Metro).

Swiss TV channel StarTV has a 10 minute program on “the making of Blick am Abend”, the Swiss free evening paper by Ringier. The program is also posted on StarTV’s YouTube Channel (via Persoenlich).