July 2010 Archives

European newspaper group Mecom beat market expectations with a €29.5 million (£24.6 million) pre-tax profits, or a 48 percent leap, in the first half of the year, Media Guardian reported.

Mecom, which has presence in Denmark, Poland, the Netherlands and Norway - posted its total group revenues almost flat at €708 million. Circulation revenues increased 2 percent to €280 million, which helped offset a 3 percent decline in total ad revenues. 

Mobile content revenues in Japan are expected to reach about US$5.3 billion in 2011, up 14 percent from $4.6 billion in 2008, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

Mobile advertising will generate about $1.3 billion in 2011, which increased 73 percent from $743 million in 2008, according to Mobile Content Forum, Dentsu and Infinita.

The gaming market is no longer the privilege of console games, while online games are getting popular, according to a recent survey conducted by Blockdot, a firm specialised at Interactive Entertainment and Advergaming technologies.

The study, conducted in the spring of 2010 for the third consecutive year, targeted 500 game players on Kewlbox.com. 

Metro International has announced a €476,000 (£398,000) net profit in the second quarter, due to impressing performances in Sweden and Hong Kong, Brand Republic reported.

The Malaysian authorities announced Thursday to issue a new permit to an Islamic opposition party newspaper. The fate of other two anti-government publications, however, is still in suspense, The Canadian Press reported.

The government refused to renew licenses for these papers, accusing them of violating laws and publishing false information. However, opposition leaders retorted that it was a crackdown on free speech, AFP reported.

Newspaper publishers have found that onetime cost cuts are not enough to streamline their businesses for the future. Instead, lowering costs must be done as part of a long-term business strategy; and for many companies, part of that strategy includes outsourcing, SFN's Million Dollar Strategies for Newspaper Companies reported.

Saving money through outsourcing and/or offshoring has grown in popularity because it is not a one-time fix to help numbers on a current earnings report, but rather it is part of a plan for the future.

According to the new study "Mobile Access 2010," released by Pew Internet & American Life Project, in April 2010, 38 percent of U.S. mobile device owner surf the Internet using their mobile devices, up from 25 percent year-over-year, Media Post reported.

As 82 percent of U.S. adult population has a mobile device, this means that about 31 percent of all U.S. adults access mobile Internet in 2010, Pew reported.

The London Evening Standard reported a loss of £28.3 million in the 10 months from December 10, 2008 to October 4, 2009, before it became a free title, according to the latest figures filed at Companies House, Media Guardian reported.

In February 2009, Alexander Lebedev acquired the Evening Standard from Daily Mail & General Trust, and changed it to a free publication on October 12. 

Compared to some parts of the world, the U.S. journalism market has experienced a more severe downturn. According to the American Society of News Editors, the country's newsroom workforce grew from about 45,000 in 1978 to more than 55,000 in 1989, but has been in a general state of decline since then. In 2006, the journalism workforce totalled about 55,000, but dropped to less than 50,000 within the next two years, SFN's Million Dollar Strategies for Newspaper Companies reported.

According to the Amerian Society for Newspaper Edtiors census for 2009, a total of 5,200 newsroom professional jobs were cut, not as high as the 5,900 in 2008. Online-only newspapers also cut 284 jobs in 2009. This caused newsroom employment to drop to 41,500, from 56,400 in 2000. The percentage of losses are higher at big metros and lower at smaller titles, according to "The State of the News Media 2010," a report by The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.