March 2007 Archives

by Tatiana Repkova

McClatchy Co., the nation's third largest newspaper publisher, will begin providing international news coverage and commentary to online powerhouse Yahoo Inc. in a partnership that further underscores the media industry's shifting balance of power.

by Tatiana Repkova

Online ad spend in the UK overtook national newspapers and broke the £2 billion barrier in 2006. According to research published today by the Internet Advertising Bureau advertising online grew by 41.2 per cent to £2.016 billion as marketers moved their budgets away from traditional platforms. In 2006 newspaper advertising recorded growth of 0.2 per cent to £1.9 billion and a market share of 10.9 per cent, the internet's share of all UK advertising revenues rose to 11.4 per cent, up from 7.8 per cent in 2005. In 2006, the internet was just over half the size of the TV advertising market, which experienced a fall of 4.7 per cent to £3.9 billion last year. Online boosted the declining UK ad market and brought overall growth of 1.1 per cent of the UK industry as traditional media combined fell by £466.1 million year-on-year - a 2.9 per cent decline. The growth of paid-for search increased by 52 per cent to £1.2 billion of total online ad spend (a 57.8 per cent share). Online classified advertising rose 45 per cent to £379 million, a share of 18.8 per cent. This is in contrast to traditional press classified advertising that, according to the results, experienced a significant decrease of 7.8 per cent year-on-year. http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story3245.shtml; March 28, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

The vast majority of newspaper editors worldwide are optimistic about the future of their newspapers, according to a new global survey that provides an insider's view to newsroom attitudes and strategies.

by Tatiana Repkova

A Taiwanese daily will launch a free commuter paper March 26, which will offer readers a chance to be front page news. The iUpaper, to be published by the United Daily News, will hand out an estimated 180,000 free copies every day from Monday to Friday at Taipei's subway stations, the commuter paper said in an advertisement.

by Tatiana Repkova

Gazeta Wyborcza was most frequently quoted by media in Poland last year, according to a report presented by Instytut Monitorowania Mediow (The Institute of Media Monitoring).

by Tatiana Repkova

The formerly paid paper Curentul has been converted to a free distributed daily and also became tabloid style February 1.

by Tatiana Repkova

Scheming by Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is killing off the few remaining independent news media outlets while the government-controlled Media Information Commission (MIC) continues to use obligatory press accreditation as a way to pressure journalists in an entirely unacceptable fashion, Reporters Without Borders has stated.

by Tatiana Repkova

Retired army general Solomon Mujuru plans to launch a daily newspaper to prop up his wife's faltering presidential ambitions, New Zimbabwe.com has revealed.

by Tatiana Repkova

Yahoo! Telemundo has agreed to provide Spanish-language content from Dow Jones & Co. Inc.'s The Wall Street Journal Hispanic edition to its newly revamped news site, Yahoo! officials have said. The articles will include specially edited journal features on personal finance, health, small business, personal technology, travel and careers, the company said in a statement. http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSWNAS461920070321; March 21, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

In a 10 percent increase from the previous year, 747 million people aged 15 and up used the internet worldwide in January 2007, according to comScore Networkspercent

by Tatiana Repkova

The Halifax Evening Courier will print its last broadsheet issue on Friday, March 23, and show off its first compact look on March 26.

by Tatiana Repkova

The Palestine Times is the only English-language Palestinian daily newspaper and as of March 17, it is being distributed throughout Israel, The Jerusalem Post reports. The founder and editor-in-chief of The Palestine Times, Othman Haj Mohammed, says his purpose is to show the "real image of Palestinians."

by Tatiana Repkova

The World Association of Newspapers and a coalition of the world's leading news agencies protested on March 15 against severe restrictions placed on press coverage of this year's Rugby World Cup in France, and said the restrictions imposed by the International Rugby Board "are a serious breach of freedom of the press." And in a separate action, WAN and the news agencies protested to the Australian Football League against its refusal to provide media accreditation to global and foreign news organizations for any games in the 2007 season.

by Tatiana Repkova

A new tabloid newspaper from Al Nisr Media, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Al Nisr Publishing, hit the streets March 15. XPRESS will come out once a week and will be distributed free throughout the UAE, Al Nisr Media announced in a statement.

by Tatiana Repkova

A computer-generated animated presenter is delivering news to the people of Norfolk with the launch of the Eastern Daily Press’s Brian. He is part of a unique project pioneered by three Norwich companies and PA Sport, which took 18 months to come to fruition. He works under their Newsfast service, using either broadband links or 3G-phone bandwidth to deliver news, weather and sports news updates.

by Tatiana Repkova

The Chicago Tribune will introduce a weekend home-delivery-only edition of its free tabloid RedEye in May - the latest development in the evolution of free alternative dailies that target young adults.

by Tatiana Repkova

Global paid product placement grew 37.2% to $3.36 billion in 2006 and is forecast to grow 30.3% to $4.38 billion in 2007, driven by relaxed European regulations, emerging Asian markets and shifting American models, according to research released today by PQ Media, the world's leading provider of alternative media econometrics. While the United States remains the largest global market for product placement, accounting for two-thirds of spending, growth will decelerate over the next four years, although remaining in the double-digits. Meanwhile, growth in the European and Asian placement markets will accelerate going forward, as legal restraints are loosened and global brand marketers move to capitalize on emerging opportunities in these regions, according to the PQ Media Global Product Placement Forecast Series 2006-2010: Country-by-Country Analysis. This new research series features individual reports on the 15 leading markets in Europe, Asia and the Americas, including data and analysis covering the period from 2000 to 2010. Key drivers of global product placement growth in 2007 and beyond include the relaxation of rules governing paid television placements in European countries through the "Television without Frontiers" directive, particularly in the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy; the evolution and growth of product placement markets in Asia, especially in China, India and Australia; and the continuing transition from non-paid to paid placement models in the Americas, primarily in the United States, Mexico and Brazil. TV placements remain the dominant choice of brand marketers, accounting for 71.4% of global spending in 2006 at $2.40 billion, with projected growth of 33.9% in 2007. The overall value of the global product placement market, including the exposure value of non-paid placements, grew 24.2% to $7.76 billion in 2006 and is projected to increase 20.3% to $9.33 billion in 2007, according to the PQ Media Global Product Placement Forecast Series 2006-2010: Country-by-Country Analysis. http://www.prwebdirect.com/releases/2007/3/prweb511540.htm; March 14, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

Fairfax Business Media will launch new online services for its daily finance tabloid The Australian Financial Review as it prepares to compete with a new Web siteWeb site from its sister digital division.

by Tatiana Repkova

To serve its members' needs in today's increasingly integrated media market, the board of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) addressed proposals in each of its media divisions for reporting cross-platform audience metrics on ABC reports. Beginning with the June 2007 ABC reporting period, business publications may report an aggregated figure for qualified circulation, Web site unique users, pass-along recipients, and e-newsletter distribution in a sidebar box highlighted on the front page of ABC Publishers' Statements and Audit Reports.

For consumer magazines, the board endorsed the concept of an optional Multimedia Publisher's Statement that would allow publishers to detail print circulation and ABCi-audited Web site traffic in a single report. The ABC board asked that its buyer and publisher advisory committees provide detailed recommendations for the board to consider at its next meeting in July. For newspapers, the ABC board provided preliminary approval to work with the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) and Scarborough Research to begin incorporating audience estimates in ABC U.S. media reports. While still in development, the intent is for ABC to allow newspaper publishers the option to report in-market readership - print and online - in a combined net-audience figure, as well as overall Web site activity. With more than 4,000 members in North America, ABC is a forum of the world's leading magazine and newspaper publishers, advertisers and ad agencies. http://sev.prnewswire.com/multimedia-online-internet/20070313/CGTU01713032007-1.html; March 13, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

Thailand's army-backed government on March 13 approved a ban on alcohol ads and raised the drinking age to 20 in its latest move to curb youth drinking. The new law, which still needs approval from the junta-appointed parliament, bans advertisements for alcohol in all Thai media, said Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla.

by Tatiana Repkova

Radio is the dominant mass media channel across Africa, according to the African Media Development Initiative that surveyed the media in 17 sub-Saharan African countries. The biggest growth area, however, are mobile phones with 10 of the countries reporting annual compound growth rates of more than 85 percent.

by Tatiana Repkova

The Fair Trade Commission fined the country's three largest newspapers a combined W552 million (US$1=W944) for offering excessive numbers of free copies for marketing purposes. It was the first time the FTC has fined the publishers for the distribution of free copies.

by Tatiana Repkova

The New York Times is to make the paid-for TimesSelect area of the site available free to college students and faculties in the United States with an e-mail address ending in .edu.

by Tatiana Repkova

The Citizen has joined forces with Johannesburg Metrobus to launch a free, abbreviated version of the daily paper, Citizen Metro, to be distributed to Metrobus commuters from early March 2007.

by Tatiana Repkova

The UK Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has launched a new cross-platform system for publishers that could give a coherent picture of a brand's performance with combined print and web data. The Group Product Report, which launched on 27 February 2007, is billed as a tool for media owners to publicise their ABC-audited and verified figures across media platforms, all on the same report. Currently, publishers use a range of different systems to measure different strands. ABC said in a statement that publishers and media owners could opt to produce a Group Product Report alongside their usual ABC certificates, with the report being updated every time new data becomes available. The report includes historic data and charts, visual representations of the products and brands, and all the information included on the individual certificates. www.abc.org.uk; http://www.fipp.com/Default.aspx?PageIndex=2002&ItemId=13585; 7 March 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

A CEO survey conducted in the US by Folio and Readex Research reveals that even though publishers are launching new initiatives in both print and online, print has remained the dominant revenue stream for the past two years, accounting for 50 per cent of total revenue in 2005 and 49 per cent in 2006. However, as print revenues decline, the survey points to the need for publishers to focus their attention online where advertisers, consumers and business professionals are increasingly turning their attention. And while the survey showed that online revenue growth is beginning to eclipse the loss in print dollars for publishers, it also showed that much of the revenue returns for online publishing continue to be theoretic. In 2006, for example, web advertising accounted for just 10 per cent of the total revenue mix, up from 8 per cent in 2005. Folio reporter Marrecca Fiore told Update that it could be some time before things change. “It’s really a case of the publishers learning to monetise the web,” she said, adding: “It’s all still new and publishers have been selling web ad rates dirt cheap. It’s up to them to set new rates and we expect things to eventually improve over the next few years.” http://www.fipp.com/Default.aspx?PageIndex=2002&ItemId=13522; March 7, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

The global online ad industry could hit $81.1 billion by 2011, according to a lengthy report released by American research firm Piper Jaffray & Co. “The User Revolution” looks at the internet as a form of mass media and anticipates a 21 per cent annual growth rate through 2011. Piper Jaffray believes the major internet trend is towards consumers, who will increasingly take control of content and branding. Piper Jaffray points out the increasing number of user-generated content sites like YouTube, MySpace and Flickr. The firm says that internet usage patterns are changing, moving traffic away from traditional web portals to these types of sites which the firm has dubbed “communitainment” sites. Piper Jaffray also believes that media is becoming increasingly fragmented, meaning that advertisers will have to buy more and more inventory in a variety of different mediums to gain the impact they want. The company also says that search will play a more prominent role and that online video will see more advertising growth as ad dollars shift away from traditional media. www.adotas.com; http://www.fipp.com/Default.aspx?PageIndex=2002&ItemId=13580; 7 March 2007

By Tatiana Repkova

The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalises the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists.

by Tatiana Repkova

Reuters returned to growth last year, with revenues increasing to a higher-than-expected £2.56 billion - but the news and financial information group expects an even better performance this year.

by Tatiana Repkova

Children from Haiderpur and Lal Quan - two slums in Delhi - have taken initiative to launch their own media and raise issues of local concern. Even though these children live in impoverished conditions with little educational and social opportunities, they are determined to establish credibility of their media in the community and hope to soon be able to influence the decision makers so as to ensure better facilities for their community.

by Tatiana Repkova

From 2.30pm each Monday through Friday, copies of mX - a full-colour, tabloid-format newspaper - will be available from about 90 distribution points across Brisbane's CBD, including exclusive distribution at Central, Roma Street, Fortitude Valley and South Brisbane railway stations. The mX Brisbane edition, a publication of 28 pages, will have a launch distribution of 40,000 copies. Already a huge success in Melbourne and Sydney, the national circulation of mX will rise to more than 250,000, making it Australia's third-largest daily paper. Utilising the resources of The Courier-Mail, mX will offer the latest news, sport, business, entertainment, travel and gossip. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21306036-953,00.html; March 1, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

KPN NV is to begin a free online and print newspaper in a joint venture with Dutch publisher PCM Uitgevers, the company has said in a statement.

Company officials have said the paper will be published in print format as well as via the Internet and downloadable to mobile phones. Both parties will retain a 50 percentpercent stake in the venture, with KPN officials saying they expect the first issue to be published in the second quarter . KPN had announced early last month it was looking into the possibility of starting a new free Dutch newspaper, possibly with Dutch publishing company PCM.

March 1, 2007

by Tatiana Repkova

A mobile version of the People's Daily newspaper was officially launched on February 28 in Beijing. China Mobile users can subscribe to the mobile version by sending the short message "rmrb" to server 7000.