WHAT'S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

Jesus de Polanco died Saturday at the age of 77.

Polanco, the billionaire chairman of the Spanish media conglomerate Grupo PRISA, co-founded El Pais and founded Grupo PRISA, which also owns radio and TV stations and publishing companies.

Grupo PRISA is the largest media company in the Spanish-speaking world.

El Pais, launched in 1976, following Franco’s 1975 death, became Spain’s most-read newspaper as the country returned to democracy.

It remains its top-selling daily.

He was the most powerful newspaper publisher in Spain.

I met him twice in my life:

The first time in Barcelona during an international seminar organized by INNOVATION.

It was in the early 90′s, and he was reluctant to accept that newspapers needed to be full-color products.

The second time in Madrid in his office at the Santillana Foundation near the Ritz hotel.

I went to see him with my friend Jayme Sirotsky, the first Latin American president of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN)

We had a very long conversation.

During these two hours, alone with Mr. Polanco, I found that:

1. He loved books. He was literally surrounded by bookshelfs.

2. He loved Latin America. He knew very well who was who in Latin America.

INNOVATION was the first company hired by PRISA to do editorial consulting for the Group.

Presented today in Cape Town, South Africa, in a joint session of the World Newspaper Congress and the World Editors Forum.

Juan Senor, our UK director, writes one of the chapters about newspapers as “information engines.”

And the infographic by Pablo Ramirez shows the newsrooms that INNOVATION promotes around the world.

To order copies of the report (available in English and Spanish) please go here.

www.innovationinnewspapers.com

Larry Kilman, WAN communications director, reports from Cape Town (bolds are mine):

World Association of Newspapers (WAN) President Gavin O’Reilly today dismissed the doomsayers predicting the death of newspapers, saying the industry had seldom been in a better position globally.

With circulations on the rise, a record number of paid-for titles in existence, capital investment in excess of $6-billion dollars last year, the aggressive marketing of brands and the launch of a plethora of brand extensions, the demise of newspapers had been greatly exaggerated.

“It’s too easy to be negative about newspapers and many commentators are profoundly bearish,” O’Reilly said.

He explained that many myths existed about the future of print, including the threat posed by the Internet.

These myths had “polluted” the international capital and equity markets, he said.

Armed with reams of data about the latest global trends, O’Reilly told delegates the WAN was planning a series of initiatives amounting to a “fight back” campaign aimed at setting the record straight.

O’Reilly said the suggestion that the internet was damaging newspapers was “unfounded”.

“The data suggests increased Internet usage tracks increased newspaper
usage.

There is an increase in total audience (if newspapers are linked to internet), proving yet again, in spite of what the doomsayers say, the complementary nature of print and online”.

Sceptics argued that the roll out of broadband was another threat to the future of newspapers, O’Reilly said, “but the data shows that in markets where broadband penetration is at its highest, newspaper penetration is also high”.

In fact, broadband’s conversion of the Internet into an audiovisual medium represented more of a threat to television than it did to newspapers, he argued.

O’Reilly said he was “not negative about online”, but believed the platform should be used to aggregate larger audiences rather than to cannibalise existing ones.

“Our only risk is inertia in our industry which leads to consumer apathy.”

You can agree or desagree with Mr. O’Reilly but what he says is what a president of the newspaper industry must say.

If you don’t believe in the future of this business, you’d better sell your paper and go home.

If you believe, say so.

Cape Town (South Africa).

Timothy Balding, CEO of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) opens the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum with a presentation with masive data about World Press Trends.

His main headline:

Global Newspaper Circulation, Advertising On the Upswing.

And now tha facts (bolds are mine)

Newspaper circulations world-wide rose 2.3 percent in 2006 while newspaper advertising revenues showed substantial gains.

WAN said global newspaper sales were up +2.3 percent over the year, and had increased +9.48 percent over the past five years.

Newspaper sales increased year-on-year in Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, with North America the sole continent to register a decline.

When free dailies are added to the paid newspaper circulation, global circulation increased +4.61 percent last year, and +14.76 percent over the past five years.

Free dailies now account for nearly 8 percent percent of all global newspaper circulation and 31.94 percent in Europe alone.

Advertising revenues in paid dailies were up +3.77 percent last year from a year earlier, and up +15.77 percent over five years, WAN said.

No figures were available for free daily advertising revenues.

“Newspapers in developing markets continue to increase circulation by leaps and bounds, and in mature markets are showing remarkable resilience against the onslaught of digital media.

Even in many developed nations the industry is maintaining or even increasing sales,” said Timothy Balding.

“At the same time, newspapers are exploiting to the full all the new opportunities provided by the digital distribution channels to increase their audiences.

“As the digital tide gathers strength, it is remarkable that the press in print continues to be the media of preference for the majority of readers who want to remain informed.”

“These results are even better than we expected from provisional data available a few months ago.

Once again we can see that far from being an industry in decline, as the ill-informed and short-sighted continue to contend, newspapers are alive and well and exhibiting enormous innovation and energy to maintain their place as the news media of preference for hundreds of millions of people daily”.

- Paid circulation grew +2.3 percent worldwide in 2006 from a year earlier, taking global sales to a new high of more than 515 million daily. With free dailies added, daily circulation increases to nearly 556 million, a +4.61 percent increase from the total of paid and free dailies in 2005.

- The total number of paid-for daily titles was up 3.46 percent in the world in 2006 and up 17.67 percent since 2002 to a record 11,207 titles. The total number of paid and free titles increased by +4.33 percent in 2006 and by +19.63 percent since 2002.

- Newspaper advertising revenue increased 3.77 percent in 2006 from a year earlier, and was up 15.77 percent over five years.

- Paid daily newspaper circulations were up in 31 percent of the countries surveyed in 2006, stable in half the countries and down in 19 percent. Over the past five years, newspaper circulations were up in more than half of the countries surveyed and stable in 20 percent.

- More than 515 million people buy a newspaper every day, up from 488 million in 2002. Average readership is estimated to be more than 1.4 billion people each day.

- Seven of 10 of the world’s 100 best selling dailies are now published in Asia. China, Japan and India account for 60 of them.

-The five largest markets for newspapers are: China, with 98.7 million copies sold daily; India, with 88.9 million copies daily; Japan, with 69.1 million copies daily; the United States, with 52.3 million; and Germany, 21.1 million.

- Circulation sales were up +3.61 percent in Asia in 2006 over the previous year, up +4.55 percent in South America, up +0.74 percent in Europe, up +0.65 percent in Africa, up +2.11 percent in Australia and Oceania, and down -1.97 percent in North America.

- The number of paid-for newspaper titles increased everywhere but South America, where it was stable. The number of newspaper titles was up 7 percent in Asia, 1.3 percent in Europe, 0.67 percent in North America, 1.2 percent in Africa and 1.14 percent in Australia and Oceania.

Daily paid newspapers in Europe saw a +0.74 percent increase in circulation in 2006, and a -4.12 percent decrease over five years. When free dailies are added, circulation increased +10.19 percent year-on-year and +12.84 percent over five years.

- In the European Union, paid daily newspapers saw a -0.87 percent percent drop in 2006 and a -5.63 percent drop since 2002.

Combined with free dailies, circulation in the EU rose +7.56 percent over one year and +12.22 percent over five years.

Newspapers in 10 European Union countries increased their total circulation in 2006.

They were: Austria +9.43 percent, Estonia +7.81 percent, Ireland +5.54 percent, Italy +1.88 percent, Lithuania +1.52 percent, Malta +5.26 percent, Poland +2.13 percent, Portugal +8.95 percent, Romania +25.70 percent, and Slovakia +1.09 percent. Circulation was stable in Cyprus.

Those reporting losses were: Belgium -2.86, Czech Republic -1.78, Denmark -1.71, Finland -0.71, France -1.55, Germany -2.1, Greece -4.85, Hungary -0.62, Latvia -7.76, Luxembourg -0.87, The Netherlands – 2.07, Slovenia – 18.60, Spain 2.14, Sweden -2.14 and the United Kingdom -2.66.

Over the five years 2002-2006, circulation rose in nine countries: Austria +10.25 percent, Cyprus +11.11 percent, Czech Republic +1.24 percent, Estonia +8.24 percent, Ireland +35.36 percent, Malta +25 percent, Poland +24.95 percent, Portugal +12.70 percent, and Slovenia +1.74 percent.

In the same period, circulation declined in: Belgium -3.46 percent, Denmark -11.5 percent; Finland -1.94 percent; France -5.70 percent; Germany -9.35 percent; Greece -2.79 percent; Hungary -9.03 percent; Italy -4.49 percent; Latvia -17.05, Luxembourg -3.39, Netherlands -11.13 percent; Slovakia -9.18 percent; Spain -1.13 percent; Sweden -3.95 percent and the United Kingdom -12.5 percent.

Elsewhere in Europe, circulation in 2006 increased +2.80 percent in Turkey and +36.25 percent in Croatia. It declined -2.91 percent in Norway, and -2.54 percent in Switzerland.

Over five years, the decline was -10.1 percent in Norway, -9.64 percent in Switzerland and -6.20 percent in Croatia, while it climbed +55.57 percent in Turkey.

- The number of paid-for newspaper titles in the EU climbed +0.41 percent in 2006, to 1,482, and was up +3.2 percent over five years. When paid and free titles are combined, the number of titles rose +2.57 percent over one year and +8.44 percent over five years.

- The circulation of US dailies fell -1.9 percent in 2006 and -5.18 percent over five years. Most of the decline came in evening dailies, which saw a year-on-year circulation decline of -4.62 percent, compared with only -1.48 percent for morning dailies. Over the past five years, evening dailies declined -19.62 percent, compared with a -2.52 percent drop for morning newspapers.

- In Japan, newspaper sales fell by -0.83 percent in 2006. Over five years, sales were down -2.42 percent.

- Chinese newspaper sales continue to perform well, up +2.27 and +15.53 percent over one and five years.

-In Latin America, where it has been difficult to obtain reliable data, Brazilian newspaper sales were up + 6.50 percent in 2006 and up +3.70
percent over five years. Colombian newspaper sales increased 3.23 percent in 2006 but were down -11.1 percent over five years.

- Indian newspaper sales increased 12.93 percent in 2006 and 53.63 percent in the five-year period.

- Elsewhere in Asia, sales were up in Malaysia (+1.82 percent), Singapore (+4.06 percent), Bangladesh (+8.3 percent) and Korea (+10.59 percent) over one year, and down in Taiwan (-6.67 percent). Over five years, sales rose in Taiwan (+2.44 percent), Malaysia (+19.97 percent), Singapore (0.48 percent), Thailand (+12.31 percent), Bangladesh (+30 percent) and Korea (+19 percent).

- Sales in Australia recorded an increase of + 2.95 percent in 2006 and were stable over five years, while New Zealand newspaper sales were down -1.10 year-on-year and down -3.22 percent over five years.

-In Africa, sales were up 8.24 percent in South Africa in 2006, and 43.18 percent over five years. Sales were stable in Nigeria and Kenya in 2006 and up 7.89 percent and 1.90 percent respectively over five years.

- The Japanese remain the world’s greatest newspaper buyers, with 630.9 daily sales per thousand adults. They are followed by Norway with 601.2 sales per thousand, Colombia with 587.8, Finland with 514.7 and Sweden with 466.2.

- The Belgians spend the most time with their newspapers — 54 minutes a day -followed by the Chinese, Finns and Brazilians, with 48 minutes each, on average.

-Sunday newspaper circulations declined -3.69 percent in 2006 and -6.2 percent over five years. The United States and the United Kingdom remain the largest markets for Sunday papers by far.

- Circulation for non-daily newspapers rose 7.29 percent over one year and 18.68 percent over five years.

On advertising

- Global newspaper advertising revenues have increased for four straight years and were up +3.77 percent in 2006.

- Newspapers share of the world ad market held relatively steady with 29.6 percent, marginally down from 29.8 percent in 2005. Newspapers remain the world’s second largest advertising medium, after television, with more revenue that radio, cinema, outdoor, magazines and the internet combined.

When newspapers and magazines are combined, print is the world’s largestadvertising medium, with a 42 percent share, compared to 38 percent for television.

Seventeen countries saw newspaper advertising market share growth in 2006: Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Greece, Indonesia, India, Hong Kong, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and South Africa.

Over five years, newspapers in 12 countries and territories saw increased market share: Austria, Denmark, Greece, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Taiwan, Puerto Rico, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

- Newspaper advertising revenues in the USA, by far the largest newspaper advertising market in the world, decreased by -1.68 percent in 2006 but increased by +5.69 percent over the last five years.

- In Japan, ad expenditures declined in 2006 by -3.20 percent but were up 10 percent over the past five years.

- China saw an increase in advertising revenues of +16 percent last year, and +58 percent over five years.

- Newspaper markets in the European Union saw a +1.36 percent increase in newspaper advertising revenues in 2006, and a +39.54 percent increase over five years.

Twenty-one of 24 EU countries for which data was available showed increases in advertising revenue in 2006: Austria +5.7 percent, Belgium +19 percent, Bulgaria +71.90 percent, Czech Republic +12.47 percent, Denmark +0.53 percent, Estonia +15.64 percent, Finland +2.50 percent, France +1.37 percent, Germany +1.13 percent, Greece +1.45 percent, , Ireland +4.49 percent, Italy +3.77 percent, Latvia +4.87 percent, Lithuania +6.12 percent, Luxembourg +43 percent, Poland +11 percent, Romania + 11.18 percent, Slovakia +11 percent, Slovenia +20.96 percent, Spain +0.21 percent, and Sweden +0.05 percent,

Newspaper advertising revenue declined in Hungary (-6.49 percent), The Netherlands (-0.46 percent), and the United Kingdom (-4 percent).

Over five years, advertising revenues was up in all 23 countries for which data was available: Austria +50.38 percent, Belgium +107.5 percent, Bulgaria +3.98 percent, the Czech Republic +91.74 percent, Denmark +42.71 percent, Estonia +124.68 percent, Finland +2.5 percent, France +33.80 percent, Germany +20.14 percent, Greece +57.20 percent, Hungary +62.88 percent, Ireland +63 percent, Italy +39.53 percent, Latvia +49.66 percent, Lithuania +71.85 percent, Luxembourg +43.24 percent, Netherlands 54.74 percent, Poland +200 percent, Romania +111.57 percent, Slovakia +179 percent, Spain +0.51 percent, Sweden +46.7 percent, and the United Kingdom +25 percent.

- In India, newspaper advertising revenues increased +23.18 percent over one year and +85 percent over the last five. South Africa also saw remarkable gains — +20.71 percent over one year and 141 percent over five years. Turkey’s percentage gains were +3.01 percent in 2006 and +152 percent over the past five years.

- In Australia revenues were down +2.77 percent over one year but rose +65.44 percent over five years. New Zealand saw a marginal +0.84 percent gain last year and an increase of 33.28 percent over five years.

Free Dailies

- A total of 287 free daily newspapers had a combined circulation of 40.7 million daily, a circulation increase of 55 percent over one year and 241 percent over five years. Twenty-seven million of those daily copies are distributed in Europe alone.

- The five largest free dailies are Metro in the United Kingdom (1.13 million copies), Leggo in Italy (1.05 million), 20 Minutos in Spain (997,000), Que! in Spain (970,000), and ADN in Spain (914,000).

The World Press Trends 2007 edition is now available at http://www.wan-press.org/worldpresstrends.

INNOVATION will present its 2007 INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS Global Report this Wednesday.

A report that we have produced since 1999 for the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

We now have the flyer for the peresentation of the 2007 Global Report and the INNOVATION/Harris survey.

They will be released during the World Newspaper Congress in Cape Town.

As always, the WAN Congress has a terrific program.

Be there!

Thanks to Ian.