Japan’s papers join forces to combat Internet
By Erina Lin, Tuesday 2 October 2007 at 22:56 :: Newspaper Data :: #646 :: rss
Japan’s two largest newspapers and its biggest business paper announced Monday they would co-operate more closely on distribution and create a joint Web site, in an attempt to attract younger readers to subscribe to their print editions.
Japan has one of the highest rates of newspaper readership in the world. These three dailies – the Yomiuri, the Asahi and the Nikkei – are all privately-owned and have a combined circulation of over 21 million. The Yomiuri alone sells more than 10 million copies, and is ranked as the highest-circulation paper in the world.
However, Japanese newspaper companies are facing hard challenges lately due to waning interest among young people and a rapidly aging population, which will eventually weaken their business.
“We want to increase the influence of newspapers in the world of the Internet,” Kotaro Akiyama, Asahi chief executive, said at a joint news conference, according to the Financial Times.
Sharing printing or distribution facilities among newspapers is now quite common, but most keep brands separate online in order to chase traffic from third-party aggregators like Google News.
According to Ryoki Sugita, chief executive of the business-oriented Nikkei, access to the new Web site would be “free in principle”, while revenue would be generated through advertisements.
The papers said they would like integrating delivery operations in rural areas to cut costs. The Asahi and the Yomiuri have already combined their delivery networks in some areas.
Analysts are uncertain if this strategy will work or not. However, this is one of the pioneering examples of newspapers allying their production and content online in order to sustain their print sales.
To read more on this topic, visit our partner site, Editorsweblog.org.
Comments
No comment.
Post comment