Semiology/ Semiotics
The study of the function of signs and symbols in human communication, both in language and by various nonlinguistic means. Beginning with the notion of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure that no word or other sign (signifier) is intrinsically linked with its meaning (signified), it was developed as a scientific discipline, especially by Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roland Barthes. Signs and symbols can also be used in design drawings such as electrical circuits or computer flowcharts.
Semiotics has combined with structuralism in order to explore the ‘production’ of meaning in language and other sign systems and has emphasized the conventional nature of this production.
Semiotics, semiotic studies, or semiology is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems. It includes the study of how meaning is constructed and understood.
This discipline is frequently seen as having important anthropological dimensions. However, some semioticians focus on the logical dimensions of the science. They examine areas belonging also to the natural sciences - such as how organisms make predictions about, and adapt to, their semiotic niche in the world (see semiosis). In general, semiotic theories take signs or sign systems as their object of study: the communication of information in living organisms is covered in biosemiotics or zoosemiosis.
Syntactics is the branch of semiotics that deals with the formal properties of signs and symbols.[1]
Semiology // Semiotics
by Robert M. Seiler
We can define semiology or semiotics as the study of signs. We may not realize it, but in fact semiology can be applied to all sorts of human endeavours, including cinema, theatre, dance, architecture, painting, politics, medicine, history, and religion. That is, we use a variety of gestures (signs) in everyday life to convey messages to people around us, e.g., rubbing our thumb and forefinger together to signify money.
We should think of messages (or texts) as systems of signs, e.g., lexical, graphic, and so on, which gain their effects via the constant clashes between these systems. For example, the menu we consult in a restaurant has been drawn up with reference to a structure, but this structure can be filled differently, according to time and place, e.g., breakfast or dinner (Barthes, 1964, p. 28).
In the notes that follow, I will say a few words about structuralism, an intellectual movement which flourished during the 1950s and the 1960s, and semiology, which has been one of the chief modes of this intellectual movement. The major figures in this movement include Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes, Roman Jakobson, Claude Levi-Strauss, Thomas Sebeok, Julia Kristeva, and Umberto Eco. For reasons that will become obvious, I will focus on Saussure and Barthes, the pioneers. All believed semiology is the key to unlocking meaning of all things.
the basic elements of structuralism
To begin with, we should think of structuralism as a mode of thought, a way of conceptualizing phenomena. Whereas in the past, determinists like Aristotle saw things in terms of cause and effect, structuralists look for structures:
• From the 15th century, the word "structure" was used as a noun: the process of building (Williams, 1976).
• During the 17th century, the term developed in two main directions: towards the product of building, as in "a wooden structure," and towards the manner of construction generally. Modern developments flow from (b). The sense of the latter is: the mutual relation of the constituent parts of a whole which define its nature, as in "internal structure."
• The term entered the vocabulary of biology in the 18th century, as in the structure of the hand.
• The term entered the vocabulary of language, literature, and philosophy in the 19th century, to convey the idea of internal structure as constitutive, as in matters of building and engineering. Scholars would talk (1863) about the structural differences that separate man from gorilla say.
We need to know this history if we are to understand the development of structural and structuralist thinking in the 20th century, as in linguistics and anthropology. We note that this theoretical construct dominated intellectual life in France, extending into the literary arts, during the period from WW I to WW II. Linguists in North America had to discard the presuppositions of Indo-European linguistics when they studied the languages of American Indians. They developed procedures for studying language as a whole, i.e., deep internal relations. Thus, we now distinguish function (performance) from structure (organization), as in structuralist linguistics and functional anthropology.
According to (orthodox) structuralism, these structures range from kinship to myth, not to mention grammar, one permanent constitutive of human formations: the defining features of human consciousness (and perhaps the human brain), e.g., Id, Ego, Superego, Libido, or Death-Wish in psychology. Of course, the assumption here is that the structuralist is an objective observer, independent of the object of consideration. In this context, we use words like code (hidden relations) to describe sign-systems (like fashion).
We should note that structuralism challenges common sense, which believes that things have one meaning and this meaning is pretty obvious. Common sense tells us that the world is pretty much as we perceive it. In other words, structuralism tells us that meaning is constructed, as a product of shared systems of signification.
Semiology: Two Pioneers
Again, semiology can be defined as the study of signs: how they work and how we use them. We note again that almost anything can signify something for someone. Saussure developed the principles of semiology as they applied to language; Barthes extended these ideas to messages (word-and-image relations) of all sorts.
1. Ferdinand de Saussure, 1857-1913
Saussure was born in Geneva, Switzerland, to a family celebrated for its accomplishments in the natural sciences. Not surprisingly, he discovered linguistic studies early in life.
In 1875, he entered the University of Geneva as a student of physics and chemistry, taking course in Greek and Latin grammar as well. This experience convinced him that his career lay in the study of language. In 1876, he entered the University of Leipzig to study Indo-European languages. Here, he published (1878) a monograph on the Primitive System of Vowels in Indo-European Languages. He was awarded the Ph.D. for his thesis on the genitive case in Sanskrit.
After completing his thesis, he moved to Paris, where he taught Sanskrit, as well as Old High German. For 10 years, he focused on specific languages--as opposed to general linguistics. In 1891, he returned to Geneva, to teach taught Sanskrit and historical linguistics at the university. The university provided the catalyst for shaping semiology--he was asked to teach (1906-11) a course of lectures in general linguistics. He died in February of 1913.
His students thought his course so innovative that they assembled their notes and published (1916) a work called Course in General Linguistics. In this work, Saussure focuses on the linguistic sign, making a number of crucial points about the relationship between the signifier (Sr) and the signified (Sd). Below I summarise the key ideas:
• Language (Saussure, 1916) is a self-contained system, one which is made up of elements which perform a variety of functions, based on the relations the various elements have one with another. We can think of syntax and grammar as organizing principles of langauge. We have no trouble recognizing the grammatical sense of the following construction: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
• We can think of language (p. 34) as a system of signs, which we can study synchronically (as a complete system at any given point) or diachronically (in its historical development).
• A signifier (Sr), the sound-image or its graphical equivalent, and its signified (Sd), the concept or the meaning, make up the sign (pp. 36-38). For example, we can say that, to an English speaking person, the three black marks c-a-t serve as the signifier which evokes the "cat."
• The relation between Sr and Sd is arbitrary (pp. 37-38). Different languages use different words for the same thing. No physical connection links a given signifier and a signified.
• Described in these terms, language is a system of formal relations. This means that the key to understanding the structure of the system lies in difference. One sound differs from another sound (as p and b); one word differs from another (as pat and bat); and one grammatical forms differs from another (as has run from will run). No linguistic unit (sound or word) has significance in and of itself. Each unit acquires meaning in conjunction with other units. We can distinguish (p. 29) formal language (Saussure calls it langue) from the actual use of language (which he calls parole).
• Every expression we use is based on collective behavior or convention. We can say that a sign is motivated when we perceive a connection between Sr and Sd, e.g. in instances of onomatopoeia like "bow-wow" and "tick-tock" (pp. 39-30).
2. Roland Barthes, 1915-80
This cultural theorist and analyst was born in Cherbourg, a port-city northwest of Paris. His parents were Louis Barthes, a naval officer, and Henriette Binger. His father died in 1916, during combat in the North Sea. In 1924, Barthes and his mother moved to Paris, where he attended (1924-30) the Lycee Montaigne. Unfortunately, he spent long periods of his youth in sanatoriums, undergoing treatment for TB. When he recovered, he studied (1935-39) French and the classics at the University of Paris. He was exempted from military service during WW II (he was ill with TB during the period 1941-47). Later, when he wasn't undergoing treatment for TB, he taught at a variety of schools, including the Lycees Voltaire and Carnot. He taught at universities in Rumania (1948-49) and Egypt (1949-50) before he joined (in 1952) the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, where he devoted his time to sociology and lexicology.
Barthes' academic career fell into three phases. During the first phase, he concentrated on demystifying the stereotypes of bourgeois culture (as he put it). For example, in Writing degree Zero (1953), Barthes examined the link between writing and biography: he studied the historical conditions of literary language and the difficulty of a modern practice of writing. Committed to language, he argued, the writer is at once caught up in particular discursive orders, the socially instituted forms of writing, a set of signs (a myth) of literature--hence the search for an unmarked language, before the closure of myth, a writing degree zero.
During the years 1954-56, Barthes wrote a series of essays for the magazine called Les Lettres nouvelles, in which he exposed a "Mythology of the Month," i.e., he showed how the denotations in the signs of popular culture betray connotations which are themselves "myths" generated by the larger sign system that makes up society. The book which contains these studies of everyday signs--appropriately enough, it is entitled Mythologies (1957)--offers his meditations on many topics, such as striptease, the New Citroen, steak and chips, and so on. In each essay, he takes a seemingly unnoticed phenomenon from everyday life and deconstructs it, i.e., shows that the "obvious" connotations which it carries have been carefully constructed. This account of contemporary myth involved Barthes in the development of semiology.
During the second phase, the semiotics phase dating from 1956, he took over Saussure's concept of the sign, together with the concept of language as a sign system, producing work which can be regarded as an appendix to Mythologies. During this period, Barthes produced such works as Elements of Semiology (1964), and The Fashion System (1967), adapting Saussure's model to the study of cultural phenomena other than language. During this period, he became (in 1962) Directeur d'Etudes in the VIth section of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, where he devoted his time to the "sociology of signs, symbols, and representations."
The third phase began with the publication of S/Z (1970), marking a shift from Saussurean semiology to a theory of "the text," which he defined as a field of the signifier and of the symbolic. S/Z is a reading of Balzac's novel Sarrasine, plotting the migration of five "codes," understood as open groupings of signifieds and as points of crossing with other texts. The distinction between "the writable" and "the readable," between what can be written/rewritten today, i.e., actively produced by the reader, and what can no longer be written but only read, i.e., passively consumed, provides a new basis for evaluation. Barthes extends this idea in The Pleasure of the Text (1973) via the body as text and language as an object of desire. During this period, he wrote books as fragments, suggesting his retreat from what might be called the discourse of power, as caught in the subject/object relationship and the habits of rhetoric. He tried to distinguish "the ideological" from "the aesthetic," between the language of science, which deals with stable meanings and which is identified with the sign, and the language of writing, which aims as displacement, dispersion. He offers a "textual" reading of himself in Roland Barthes by Roland Barthes (1975). In 1976, he became professor of "literary semiology" at the College de France. In his last book, Camera Lucinda (1980), he reflects on the levels of meaning of the photograph.
Barthes died on 26 March 1980, having been knocked over by a laundry van (reports suggest that the driver was drunk).
In the notes that follow, I summarise the principle he forumlates in Elements of Semiology:
the basic elements of semiology
The goal of semiological analysis is to identify the principle at work in the message or text, i.e., to determine the rhetoric or the grammar tying together all the elements. I gloss the chief terms used by analysts in the section below, and I provide a short guide to semiological analysis in the very last section.
1. axes of language
We get a sense of how language works as a system (Barthes, 1983, p. 58) if we think of language as a pair of axes or two planes of mental activity, the vertical plane being the selective principle (vocabulary) and the horizontal dimension being the combinative principle (sentences). For example, we might select items (words) from various categories in the vertical (associative) dimension, such as kitten, cat, moggy, tom, puss, mouser; sat, rested, crouched; mat, rug, carpet and so on, and link them in the horizontal (combinative) plane to formulate statements like The cat sat on the mat.
The idea is to think of language (Saussure, 1916) as a system of signs. Let me say a few words about this important concept. By "system" we mean an organized whole, involving a number of parts in some non-random relationship with one another. In other words, a system is a set of entities that interact with one another to form a whole. We speak of mechanical, biological, psychological, or socio-cultural systems. A machine is a system. We think of the brake system in a car. An organism like the body is a system. We think of the nervous system. With regard to social units, we think of the family. The members of the family are the objects of the system. Their characteristics as individuals are the attributes; their interaction forms constitute the relationships. A family exists in a social and cultural environment, which affects and is shaped by, the members.
The following example will help clarify three related terms: The system of traffic signals performs the function of controlling traffic; the structure of this system is the binary opposition of red and green lights in alternating sequence.
To make a long story short, we should think of texts as systems, e.g., lexical, graphic, and so on, which gain their effects via the constant clashes between these systems.
2. Signs
As we have seen, de Saussure--the founder of semiology--was the first to elaborate the tripartite relationship
signifier + signified = sign
According to Saussure, the linguistic sign unites a sound-image and a concept. The relationship between Sr and Sd is arbitrary. It should be remembered that neither of these entities exist outside the construct we call a sign. We separate these entities for convenience only.
• The signifier--which has a physical existence--carries the meaning. This is the sign as we perceive it: the marks on the paper or the sounds in the air.
• The signified is a mental concept that is the meaning. It is common to all members of the same culture who share the same language.
• The sign is the associative total of the two: we speak of it as a signifying construct.
During the 1960s, long hair on a man, especially if it was dirty (the signifier) usually suggested counterculture (the signified), whereas short hair on a man (the signifier) suggested the businessman or "square" (the signifier). Of course, these meanings vary according to place and time.
3. motivation
The terms motivation and constraint describe the extent to which the signified determines the signifier. In other words, the form that a photograph of a car can take is determined by the appearance of the specific car itself. The form of the signifier of a generalized car or a traffic sign is determined by the convention that is accepted by the users of the code.
motivated signs
Motivated signs are iconic signs; they are characterized by a natural relation between signifier and signified. A portrait or a photograph is iconic, in that the signifier represents the appearance of the signified. The faithfulness or the accuracy of the representation--the degree to which the signified is re-presented in the signifier--is an inverse measure of how conventionalized it is. A realistic portrait (painting) is highly conventionalized: this means that to signify the work relies on our experience of the sort of reality it re-presents. A photograph of a street scene communicates easily because of our familiarity with the reality it re-presents. It is important to recognize that (i) in signs of high motivation, the signified is the determining influence, and (ii) in signs of low motivation, convention determines the form of the signifier.
unmotivated signs
In unmotivated signs, the signifieds relate to their signifiers by convention alone, i.e., by an agreement among the users of these signs. Thus, convention plays a key role in our understanding of any sign. We need to know how to read a photograph or a sculpture, say. Convention serves as the social dimension of signs. We may not understand the unmotivated verbal sign for car that the French use, but we understand the road signs in France in so far as they are iconic. The arbitrary dimension of the unmotivated sign is often disguised by the apparent natural iconic motivation; hence, a man in a detective story showing the inside of his wallet is conventionally a sign of a policeman identifying himself and not a sign of a peddler of pornographic postcards.
4. denotation and connotation
Saussure concentrated on the denotative function of signs; by contrast, Barthes pushed the analysis to another level, the connotative. Simply put, these two terms describe the meanings signs convey.
denotation
By denotation we mean the common sense, obvious meaning of the sign. A photograph of a street scene denotes the street that was photographed. This is the mechanical reproduction (on film) of the object the camera points at. For example, I can use color film, pick a day of pale sunshine, and use a soft focus lens to make the street appear warm and happy, a safe community for children. I can use black and white film, hard focus, and strong contrast, to make the street appear cold, inhospitable. The denotative meanings would be the same.
connotation
By connotation we mean the interaction that occurs when the sign and the feelings of the viewer meet. At this point, meanings move toward the subjective interpretation of the sign (as illustrated by the above examples). If denotation is what is photographed, connotation is how it is photographed.
5. paradigms and syntagms
Saussure defined two ways in which signs are organized into codes (Fiske, 1982, pp. 61-64):
paradigm
A paradigm is a vertical set of units (each unit being a sign or word), from which the required one is selected, e.g., the set of shapes for road signs: square, round and triangular.
syntagm
A syntagm is the horizontal chain into which units are linked, according to agreed rules and conventions, to make a meaningful whole. The syntagm is the statement into which the chosen signs are combined. A road sign is a syntagm, a combination of the chosen shape with the chosen symbol.
Paradigms and syntagms are fundamental to the way that any system of signs is organized. In written language, the letters of the alphabet are the basic vertical paradigms. These may be combined into syntagms called words. These words can be formed into syntagms called phrases or sentences, i.e., according to the rules of grammar.
Syntagms--like sentences--exist in time: we can think of them as a chain. But syntagms of visual signs can exist simultaneously in space. Thus, a sign of two children leaving school, in black silhouette, can be syntagmatically combined with a red triangle or a road sign to mean: SCHOOL: BEWARE OF CHILDREN.
6. difference
The term "difference" describes the relationship between the elements at work in any given message. They work as rhetorical figures, such as the figures of addition, where the elements are added to a word, sentence, or image; or the figures of suppression, where elements are suppressed, concealed, or excluded. The key to understanding the structure of a system of signs, then, lies in understanding the relationship(s) the system utilizes. We are interested in the techniques of additions primarily, which include:
• Repetition is the repetition of the same element: word, sound or image;
• Similarity is similarity of form, as in rhyme, or on similarity of content, as in comparisons;
• Accumulation refers to a number of different elements conveying the idea of abundance or profusion, verging on disorder and chaos; and
• Opposition occurs at the level of form (an ad set in two different countries) and the level of content (an advertisement for detergent featuring a man in white smocking sitting on a heap of coal).
Thus, difference might be a function of contrast or opposition in terms of:
balance - instability;
symmetry - asymmetry
harmony - confusion
regularity - irregularity
understatement - exaggeration
predictability - spontaneity
expensive - cheap
high quality - low quality
exciting - boring
The idea is that nothing in and of itself has meaning: rather, meaning is a function of some relationship.
7. Metaphor and Metonymy
These terms--used by Roman Jakobson, the linguist--define the two fundamental modes by which the meanings of signs are conveyed.
metaphor
Metaphor involves a transposition or displacement from signified to signifier, together with the recognition that such a transposition implies an equivalence between these two elements of the sign. Likewise, "visual metaphors" are constructed, e.g., a portrait of a man is constructed in such a way as to convince us that the two dimensional visual representation is equivalent to its three-dimensional reality. Similarly, a map signifies the reality to which it refers by constructing an equivalent form in whose features we can recognize those of the object itself. Thus, both verbal and non-verbal, arbitrary and iconic signs can be metaphorical.
metonymy
In metonymy, the signification depends upon the ability of a sign to act as a part which signifies the whole. Television advertisers are particularly adept at exploiting both metaphoric and metonymic modes in order to cram as much meaning as possible into a short period of time. For example, the sign of a mother pouring out a particular breakfast cereal for her children is a metonym of all her maternal activities of cooking, cleaning, and so on, but a metaphor for the love and the security she provides. As we have suggested, the structural relationship between these modes can be visualized as operating on two axes, one vertical and one horizontal in character.
8. three orders of signification
In the study of signs, we can speak of different levels of meaning or orders of signification.
first order
In the first order of signification, the sign is self-contained: the photograph means the individual car. This is the denotative order of signification.
second order
In the second order, this simple motivated meaning meets a whole range of cultural meanings that derive not from the sign itself but from the way society uses and values the Sr and the Sd. This is the connotative order of signification. In our society, a car--or a sign for a car--can signify virility or freedom. According to Barthes (1964), signs in the second order of signification operate in two distinct ways: as mythmakers and as connotative agents.
• When signs move to the second order of signification, they carry cultural meanings as well as representational ones, i.e., the signs become the signifiers of CULTURAL MEANINGS. Barthes calls the cultural meanings of these signs MYTHS. The sign loses its specific signified and becomes a second-order signifier, i.e., a conveyor of cultural meaning.
• We can explain the connotative order of signification with a simple example. A general's uniform denotes his rank (first-order sign) but connotes the respect we show it (second-order sign). Say that by the end of the war film we are watching the general's uniform is tattered and torn; it still denotes his rank; however, the connotative meaning will have changed.
Thus, in the connotative order, signs signify values, emotions, and attitudes. Camera angle, lighting, and background music, for example, are used in film and television to connote meaning. The connotative meaning of a televised painting can be changed by the background music accompanying it.
third order
The range of cultural meanings that are generated in this second order cohere in the third order of signification into a cultural picture of the world. It is in this order (the third) that a car forms part of the imagery of an industrial, materialist, and rootless society. The myths which operate as organizing structures, e.g., the myth of the neighborhood policeman as keeper of the peace and friend of all residents of the community, are themselves organized into a pattern which we might call MYTHOLOGY or IDEOLOGY. In the third order of signification, ideology reflects the broad principles by which a culture organizes and interprets the reality with which it has to cope. This mythology is a function of the social institutions and the individuals who make up these institutions.
9. semiological analysis
Barthes (1964) points out that semiological analysis involves two operations: dissection and articulation. The first operation (dissection) includes looking for fragments (elements) which when associated one with another suggest a certain meaning. The analyst looks for paradigms, i.e., classes or groups from which elements have been chosen (and endowed with specific meaning).
The units or elements in this group or class share a number of characteristics. Two units of the same paradigm must resemble one another so that the difference which separates them becomes evident, e.g., to a foreigner, American automobiles seem to look alike, yet they differ in make and color.
The second operation (articulation) involves determining the rules of combination. This is the activity of articulation. In summary: The analyst takes the object, decomposes it and then re-composes it. The analyst makes something appear which was invisible or unintelligible.
10. Concluding Remarks
Like structuralism, semiology decenters the individual, who is no longer the source of meaning. Semiology (Barthes, 1964) refuses the obvious meaning of a work: it does not take the message at face value. We are concerned with MESSAGES and the preferred ways to READ them.
I conclude these notes with a guide to a semiological analysis, based on Barthes' (1977) seminal essay, "The Rhetoric of the Image."
a guide to a semiological analysis
This guide identifies the key activities analysts undertake when they conduct a semiological critique of a text, such as an advertisement, a tv program, a movie, a painting, etc.
1. Offer your reader a brief overview of the message
The idea is to provide a brief description of the advertisement (say) so that the reader can visualize the message.
2. Identify the key signifiers and signifieds.
Ask questions like: What are the important signifiers and what do they signify? What is the system (of signs) that gives the text meaning? What ideological and sociological matters are involved?
3. Identify the paradigms that have been exploited.
Ask questions like: What is the central opposition in the text? What paired opposites fit under the various categories? Do these oppositions have any psychological or social significance?
4. Identify the syntagms that come across.
Ask questions like: What statements or messages (directly and implied) can you identify? Answer this question by considering
(a) the linguistic message
This message is made up of all the words, denotations and connotations.
(b) the non-coded iconographic (literal) message
This message is made up of the denotations in the photograph.
(c) the coded iconographic (symbolic) message
This message is made up of the visual connotations we detect in the arrangement of photographed elements.
5. Finally, identify the principle at work in the message or text. Remember, the goal of analysis is to determine the rhetoric or the grammar tying together all the elements.
References
Barthes, R. 1964. "The Structuralist Activity." From Essais Critiques, trans. R. Howard. In Partisan Review 34 (Winter):82-88.
---. 1967. Writing Degree Zero, trans. A. Lavers and C. Smith. 1953; rptd. New York: Hill and Wang.
---. 1967. Mytholgies, trans. A. Lavers. 1957; rptd. London: Hill and Wang.
---. 1967. Elements of Semiology, trans. A. Lavers and C. Smith. 1964; rptd. New York: Hill and Wang.
---. 1974. S/Z, trans. R. Howard. 1970; rptd. Oxford: Blackwell.
---. 1975. The Pleasure of the Text, trans. R. Howard. 1973; rptd. New York: Hill and Wang.
---. 1977. Roland Barthes on Roland Barthes, trans. R. Howard. 1975; rptd. New York: Hill and Wang.
---. 1977. "The Rhetoric of the Image." In his book Image-Music-Text, trans. S. Heath. 1964; rpt. London: Wm. Collins Sons and Co., pp. 32-51.
---. 1981. Camera Lucinda, trans. R. Howard. 1980; rptd. New York: Hill and Wang.
---. 1983. The Fashion System, trans. M. Ward and R. Howard. 1967; rptd. New York: Hill and Wang.
de Saussure, Ferdinand. 1960. Course in General Linguistics. 1916; rpt. London: Peter Owen.
Eco, Umberto. 1976. A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Fiske, John. 1982. Introduction to Communication. London: Methuen.
Jakobson, Roman. 1960. "Linguistics and Poetics." In Style in Language, ed. Thomas A. Sebeok. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 350-77.
Williams, Raymond. 1976. "Structural." In Key Words. London: Fontana, pp. 253-59.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
New Strategic Reports From Shaping the Future of the Newspaper
New Strategic Reports From Shaping the Future of the Newspaper
Five new strategy reports on some of the most important recent developments in the newspaper industry globally -- increasing digital revenue development, advertising best practices, innovative management systems, newspaper company reorganisation and the power of local focus -- have just been published by the World Association of Newspapers.
The reports from the WAN Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, which were released at the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, focus on how publishers can benefit from the opportunities provided by these developments.
The reports, and the SFN project, are an exclusive service to WAN Members, who will receive the reports in the coming days and can now download electronic versions and more from the SFN website at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.
WAN has published 37 SFN Strategy Reports in the past six years. The reports released Tuesday are:
Benchmarking New Digital Revenues, which includes the WAN benchmarking study, conducted in partnership with US research firm Borrell Associates, which tracks digital revenue growth across key categories, and forecasts trends for coming years.
Advertising Best Practices, which focuses on three strategies that will move newspaper advertising departments towards better profitability and sales effectiveness -- managing yield and pricing management, focusing on ad effectiveness, and developing the digital sales department.
The Power of Local Focus, which examines how changing market forces have propelled the local newspaper market into a new strategy focused on the "Four ’Ns’ -- Newspapers, Neighbours, Niches and Networks.
Reorganising the Newspaper Company, which examines how the rapidly changing media landscape is pushing companies worldwide to transform themselves to reach wider audiences, increase advertising revenues and make processes more efficient.
Innovative Management Systems, which looks at how large and small newspaper companies around the world are implementing technology systems to create workflow efficiencies, save money and improve customer service while, at the same time, considering present and future return on investment.
In addition, WAN members have received two other reports in the 2007 SFN series that were published earlier this year:
World Digital Media Trends, a companion to WAN’s annual World Press Trends. Digital Media Trends explores global and regional trends in usage patterns and revenue generation in digital media, and compares them with other media. (World Digital Media Trends is also available to non-members: go to www.wan-press.org/worlddigitalmedia... for more information).
New Print Products, which examines the proliferation of new genres of newspapers, the surge of new free titles, the trend of the shrinking newspaper format, and more.
Please note: the new reports are available exclusively to members of WAN. More on the project and its benefits at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.
WAN is a leading provider of industry research and analysis through its SFN project, which identifies, analyses and publicises all important breakthroughs and opportunities that can benefit newspapers all over the world. In addition to the annual strategy reports, SFN provides WAN members with a library of case studies and business ideas, and a wealth of other vital information for all those who need to follow press industry trends.
WAN conducts the SFN project with support from four international partners -- PubliGroupe, the Swiss-based international advertising and promotion group; MAN Roland, a leading company for newspaper production systems; UPM, one of the world’s leading printing paper producers; and Telenor, the leading Norwegian telecommunications, IT and media group.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.
Five new strategy reports on some of the most important recent developments in the newspaper industry globally -- increasing digital revenue development, advertising best practices, innovative management systems, newspaper company reorganisation and the power of local focus -- have just been published by the World Association of Newspapers.
The reports from the WAN Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, which were released at the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, focus on how publishers can benefit from the opportunities provided by these developments.
The reports, and the SFN project, are an exclusive service to WAN Members, who will receive the reports in the coming days and can now download electronic versions and more from the SFN website at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.
WAN has published 37 SFN Strategy Reports in the past six years. The reports released Tuesday are:
Benchmarking New Digital Revenues, which includes the WAN benchmarking study, conducted in partnership with US research firm Borrell Associates, which tracks digital revenue growth across key categories, and forecasts trends for coming years.
Advertising Best Practices, which focuses on three strategies that will move newspaper advertising departments towards better profitability and sales effectiveness -- managing yield and pricing management, focusing on ad effectiveness, and developing the digital sales department.
The Power of Local Focus, which examines how changing market forces have propelled the local newspaper market into a new strategy focused on the "Four ’Ns’ -- Newspapers, Neighbours, Niches and Networks.
Reorganising the Newspaper Company, which examines how the rapidly changing media landscape is pushing companies worldwide to transform themselves to reach wider audiences, increase advertising revenues and make processes more efficient.
Innovative Management Systems, which looks at how large and small newspaper companies around the world are implementing technology systems to create workflow efficiencies, save money and improve customer service while, at the same time, considering present and future return on investment.
In addition, WAN members have received two other reports in the 2007 SFN series that were published earlier this year:
World Digital Media Trends, a companion to WAN’s annual World Press Trends. Digital Media Trends explores global and regional trends in usage patterns and revenue generation in digital media, and compares them with other media. (World Digital Media Trends is also available to non-members: go to www.wan-press.org/worlddigitalmedia... for more information).
New Print Products, which examines the proliferation of new genres of newspapers, the surge of new free titles, the trend of the shrinking newspaper format, and more.
Please note: the new reports are available exclusively to members of WAN. More on the project and its benefits at www.futureofthenewspaper.com.
WAN is a leading provider of industry research and analysis through its SFN project, which identifies, analyses and publicises all important breakthroughs and opportunities that can benefit newspapers all over the world. In addition to the annual strategy reports, SFN provides WAN members with a library of case studies and business ideas, and a wealth of other vital information for all those who need to follow press industry trends.
WAN conducts the SFN project with support from four international partners -- PubliGroupe, the Swiss-based international advertising and promotion group; MAN Roland, a leading company for newspaper production systems; UPM, one of the world’s leading printing paper producers; and Telenor, the leading Norwegian telecommunications, IT and media group.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr.
New Poll Shows Continuing Strength of Newspapers : WAN 2007
Online news and information will supplant television network news as the leading news source over the next five years, but newspapers will remain a vital source on their own, and can become dominant if they successfully integrate online delivery as a part of what they offer the public.
That’s the finding of a Harris Poll conducted last month by Harris Interactive in conjunction with the Innovation International Media Consulting Group and presented Wednesday at the annual congress of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) in Cape Town, South Africa. The poll results were announced in conjunction with publication of Innovation’s “2007 Report: Innovations in Newspapers" for WAN.
This year’s Innovations report covers major developments in the global newspaper industry, including the best cases of newsroom integration and innovations in newspaper redesign, websites, citizen journalism, infographics, magazines and supplements, workflow and more. The report can be purchased from WAN; contact Donna Pentier, Director of Training & Events, dpentier@wan.asso.fr.
The poll results suggest that newspapers can significantly upgrade their traditional print product by providing greater objectivity, more in depth reporting and analysis, more information that is directly relevant to their readers’ lives, better and more visual design, and more compelling writing.
The online poll was conducted among 8,749 adults in seven countries: The United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Australia. Respondents were asked about their current sources of news and information, and what changes they see five years into the future. They were also asked to assess the credibility of newspapers today, and their role, and that of their online sites, today and in the future.
While television news programs on traditional and cable networks are the primary information providers today in all the regions polled, a sharp increase in the role of online news information is predicted for five years down the road, largely at the expense of television, with smaller inroads into the market for newspapers.
“Despite the likely decline in print circulation, newspaper publishers should see a challenge and an opportunity in extending their brands online,” said Douglas S. Griffen, an Innovation and Harris International Consultant, and the Director of Strategy at the Advanced Strategy Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, who presented the survey results.
The poll found television news (both network and cable) to be the primary source of information today for between 35 and 39 percent of adults in six of the countries surveyed, dropping to 29 percent in Spain, where it was close to the number who rely on newspapers, 28 percent. In the other six countries, reliance on newspapers (that is major dailies, national newspapers, and local community newspapers) ranged from 23 percent in the United Kingdom to a low of 16 percent in France. It was 21 percent in Italy, 23 percent in both the United States and Australia, and 22 in Germany.
Looking five years down the road, the poll points to significant increases in all geographies for online news and information, and significant parallel losses for television network news, with modest increases for cable news, and newspapers down from moderately to significantly in all countries surveyed. Radio remains relevant, with moderate decreases.
Newspaper credibility gets reasonably high marks, 50 or higher on a scale of 1 to 100, with some significant geographic differences, from a low of 50 in Great Britain to a high of 67 in Germany.
At the same time the poll found that a high number of respondents (over three-quarters of adults in each country) consider newspapers and their associated websites extremely important because of their role as community watchdogs, in clarifying important global issues, and providing relevant information that is interesting to know and useful in daily life. “While readers don’t expect newspapers to change the world, they count on them to help see and understand the world better,” said Griffen..
Asked why people do not read newspapers, over half of poll respondents in six of the seven countries pointed to lack of time (in Spain this dropped to 44 percent). At least two in five adults in all 7 countries said easier access to news online was a reason to not read the newspaper. Other reasons that were given were newspapers need to eliminate bias, improve writing, increase relevance to readers’ daily lives, improve visual content and presentation, and help connect readers to their communities.
The survey found - in questions posed to U.S. respondents only - that the credibility of newspapers can be extended to their websites, but not enough effort goes into promoting the connection between newspapers and their online products.
Griffen urged editors and publishers attending the WAN and WEF Congress to leverage their credibility, and the importance readers attach to their newspapers’ role in the community to developing their online products as clear extensions of the newspaper brand.
Methodology This Harris Poll® was conducted online by Harris Interactive among 8,749 adults (ages 16 and over) within Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Australia and adults ages 18 and over in the United States and Italy between May 8 and 14, 2007 . By country, the totals are: France 1,134; Germany 1,133; Great Britain 1,006; Italy 1,122; Spain 995; Australia 976 and the United States 2,383. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
About Harris Interactive Harris Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides innovative research, insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world’s largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiaries Novatris in France and MediaTransfer AG in Germany, and through a global network of independent market research firms. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com. To become a member of the Harris Poll Online and be invited to participate in online surveys, register at www.harrispollonline.com.
About Innovation
With offices in the United States, England, Italy, Spain and Latin America, INNOVATION is a consulting company with a network of more than 80 professionals based around the world. Innovation: • Develops and implements strategic plans for diversification, convergence and full multimedia integration. • Plans, directs and implements high quality editorial projects for the modernization of newsroom management, graphic presentation and editorial content to drive greater advertising revenues and increased circulation. • Organizes tailored training programs for journalists and publishing executives. • Works with family-owned media companies to successfully navigate generational changes. • Publishes reports and newsletters on global media trends, including a Confidential Newsletter in English, Spanish and Italian. • Produces an annual report on Innovations in Newspapers for the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). For more information go to www.innovation-mediaconsulting.com.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Tracey McNerney, Harris Interactive Consulting Group, +1 585 214 7756, tmcnerney@harrisinteractive.com or Claude Erbsen, Innovation Media Consulting Group, +1 914 725 1809, erbsen@innovation-mediaconsulting.com.
About WAN
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 76 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr
That’s the finding of a Harris Poll conducted last month by Harris Interactive in conjunction with the Innovation International Media Consulting Group and presented Wednesday at the annual congress of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) in Cape Town, South Africa. The poll results were announced in conjunction with publication of Innovation’s “2007 Report: Innovations in Newspapers" for WAN.
This year’s Innovations report covers major developments in the global newspaper industry, including the best cases of newsroom integration and innovations in newspaper redesign, websites, citizen journalism, infographics, magazines and supplements, workflow and more. The report can be purchased from WAN; contact Donna Pentier, Director of Training & Events, dpentier@wan.asso.fr.
The poll results suggest that newspapers can significantly upgrade their traditional print product by providing greater objectivity, more in depth reporting and analysis, more information that is directly relevant to their readers’ lives, better and more visual design, and more compelling writing.
The online poll was conducted among 8,749 adults in seven countries: The United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Australia. Respondents were asked about their current sources of news and information, and what changes they see five years into the future. They were also asked to assess the credibility of newspapers today, and their role, and that of their online sites, today and in the future.
While television news programs on traditional and cable networks are the primary information providers today in all the regions polled, a sharp increase in the role of online news information is predicted for five years down the road, largely at the expense of television, with smaller inroads into the market for newspapers.
“Despite the likely decline in print circulation, newspaper publishers should see a challenge and an opportunity in extending their brands online,” said Douglas S. Griffen, an Innovation and Harris International Consultant, and the Director of Strategy at the Advanced Strategy Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, who presented the survey results.
The poll found television news (both network and cable) to be the primary source of information today for between 35 and 39 percent of adults in six of the countries surveyed, dropping to 29 percent in Spain, where it was close to the number who rely on newspapers, 28 percent. In the other six countries, reliance on newspapers (that is major dailies, national newspapers, and local community newspapers) ranged from 23 percent in the United Kingdom to a low of 16 percent in France. It was 21 percent in Italy, 23 percent in both the United States and Australia, and 22 in Germany.
Looking five years down the road, the poll points to significant increases in all geographies for online news and information, and significant parallel losses for television network news, with modest increases for cable news, and newspapers down from moderately to significantly in all countries surveyed. Radio remains relevant, with moderate decreases.
Newspaper credibility gets reasonably high marks, 50 or higher on a scale of 1 to 100, with some significant geographic differences, from a low of 50 in Great Britain to a high of 67 in Germany.
At the same time the poll found that a high number of respondents (over three-quarters of adults in each country) consider newspapers and their associated websites extremely important because of their role as community watchdogs, in clarifying important global issues, and providing relevant information that is interesting to know and useful in daily life. “While readers don’t expect newspapers to change the world, they count on them to help see and understand the world better,” said Griffen..
Asked why people do not read newspapers, over half of poll respondents in six of the seven countries pointed to lack of time (in Spain this dropped to 44 percent). At least two in five adults in all 7 countries said easier access to news online was a reason to not read the newspaper. Other reasons that were given were newspapers need to eliminate bias, improve writing, increase relevance to readers’ daily lives, improve visual content and presentation, and help connect readers to their communities.
The survey found - in questions posed to U.S. respondents only - that the credibility of newspapers can be extended to their websites, but not enough effort goes into promoting the connection between newspapers and their online products.
Griffen urged editors and publishers attending the WAN and WEF Congress to leverage their credibility, and the importance readers attach to their newspapers’ role in the community to developing their online products as clear extensions of the newspaper brand.
Methodology This Harris Poll® was conducted online by Harris Interactive among 8,749 adults (ages 16 and over) within Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Australia and adults ages 18 and over in the United States and Italy between May 8 and 14, 2007 . By country, the totals are: France 1,134; Germany 1,133; Great Britain 1,006; Italy 1,122; Spain 995; Australia 976 and the United States 2,383. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.
All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.
Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.
About Harris Interactive Harris Interactive is the 12th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides innovative research, insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world’s largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiaries Novatris in France and MediaTransfer AG in Germany, and through a global network of independent market research firms. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com. To become a member of the Harris Poll Online and be invited to participate in online surveys, register at www.harrispollonline.com.
About Innovation
With offices in the United States, England, Italy, Spain and Latin America, INNOVATION is a consulting company with a network of more than 80 professionals based around the world. Innovation: • Develops and implements strategic plans for diversification, convergence and full multimedia integration. • Plans, directs and implements high quality editorial projects for the modernization of newsroom management, graphic presentation and editorial content to drive greater advertising revenues and increased circulation. • Organizes tailored training programs for journalists and publishing executives. • Works with family-owned media companies to successfully navigate generational changes. • Publishes reports and newsletters on global media trends, including a Confidential Newsletter in English, Spanish and Italian. • Produces an annual report on Innovations in Newspapers for the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). For more information go to www.innovation-mediaconsulting.com.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Tracey McNerney, Harris Interactive Consulting Group, +1 585 214 7756, tmcnerney@harrisinteractive.com or Claude Erbsen, Innovation Media Consulting Group, +1 914 725 1809, erbsen@innovation-mediaconsulting.com.
About WAN
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 76 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr
World Newspaper Congress 2007
Meetings of World’s Press Ends With Look Toward the Future
Cape Town, South Africa, 6 June 2007
Göteborg, Sweden Will Host the Events in 2008
The 60th World Newspaper Congress, 14th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo came to an end in Cape Town on Wednesday with an optimistic look toward the future of newspapers.
With more than 1,600 newspaper professionals from 109 countries attending, the three-day meeting of the world’s press repeatedly demonstrated the vitality and innovation that characterises the industry today. 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, said Gavin O’Reilly, President of the World Association of Newspapers, which organised the events.
“It’s too easy to be negative about newspapers and many commentators are profoundly bearish," Mr O’Reilly said.
Full coverage of the proceedings, including summaries of presentations, video interviews with speakers and delegates, and much more, can be found at www.capetown2007.co.za.
Next year, the 61st World Newspaper Congress, 15th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2008 will be held from 1 to 4 June 2008 in the south-western Swedish maritime city of Göteborg. The events will be hosted by the Swedish Newspaper Publishers Association, which represents Sweden’s daily newspapers and other media companies.
More about the events can be found at http://www.wangoteborg2008.com/">www.wangoteborg2008.com
Here’s what they were saying at Cape Town 2007, which was hosted by the Newspaper Association of South Africa:
“There is lots of talk of gadgets and online, but there’s one wonderful ingredient that is often left out: passion. Passion to serve people, to listen to people, to give them what they want”. Fergus Sampson, General Manager, Daily Sun, South Africa
’Courage is an important word for us. Old successful companies very often get lazy resting on historic successes. That is why it takes courage to do things sometimes differently and to invent new ways."Tomas Brunegard, CEO, Stampen Group, Sweden
"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. 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."Timothy Balding, CEO, World Association of Newspapers
"Much has always been said about how one medium’s emergence would eliminate those that came before: first books would eliminate the sermon, then newspapers would eliminate the books, radio would eliminate newspapers, and television would kill all other news media. It has not happened. But we must continue to deal with the one important factor: time. How many things can a normal person attend to during the course of 24 hours. That is our challenge."Mario Garcia, CEO, Garcia Media Group, United States
"Norwegians spent 125 million euros on mobile content in 2006. More than 70 percent of this revenue went back to content providers, including newspapers."Erik Nord, Deputy CEO, Telenor, Norway
"While there is some indication that print circulation is dropping in some areas, the percentage of people who look for their news on both the net and in their newspapers is increasing rapidly, and more than makes up for the loss of circulation in print media."Martha Stone, Director of the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, World Association of Newspapers
“The first brand young people adopt is television, then the internet. They view newspapers as an inspirational kind of romantic, aspirational ideal. They see newspapers as a different kind of media.”Robert Barnard, Partner, D-Code,, Canada
“Tell the African story in as much depth and context as possible, physically get around the continent so as to reflect what is really happening on the ground."Thabo Mbeki, President, Republic of South Africa
Full conference coverage, including video, debates, summaries of presentations and much more, can be found at www.capetown2007.co.za
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail:lkilman@wan.asso.fr">lkilman@wan.asso.fr
Cape Town, South Africa, 6 June 2007
Göteborg, Sweden Will Host the Events in 2008
The 60th World Newspaper Congress, 14th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo came to an end in Cape Town on Wednesday with an optimistic look toward the future of newspapers.
With more than 1,600 newspaper professionals from 109 countries attending, the three-day meeting of the world’s press repeatedly demonstrated the vitality and innovation that characterises the industry today. 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, said Gavin O’Reilly, President of the World Association of Newspapers, which organised the events.
“It’s too easy to be negative about newspapers and many commentators are profoundly bearish," Mr O’Reilly said.
Full coverage of the proceedings, including summaries of presentations, video interviews with speakers and delegates, and much more, can be found at www.capetown2007.co.za.
Next year, the 61st World Newspaper Congress, 15th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2008 will be held from 1 to 4 June 2008 in the south-western Swedish maritime city of Göteborg. The events will be hosted by the Swedish Newspaper Publishers Association, which represents Sweden’s daily newspapers and other media companies.
More about the events can be found at http://www.wangoteborg2008.com/">www.wangoteborg2008.com
Here’s what they were saying at Cape Town 2007, which was hosted by the Newspaper Association of South Africa:
“There is lots of talk of gadgets and online, but there’s one wonderful ingredient that is often left out: passion. Passion to serve people, to listen to people, to give them what they want”. Fergus Sampson, General Manager, Daily Sun, South Africa
’Courage is an important word for us. Old successful companies very often get lazy resting on historic successes. That is why it takes courage to do things sometimes differently and to invent new ways."Tomas Brunegard, CEO, Stampen Group, Sweden
"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. 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."Timothy Balding, CEO, World Association of Newspapers
"Much has always been said about how one medium’s emergence would eliminate those that came before: first books would eliminate the sermon, then newspapers would eliminate the books, radio would eliminate newspapers, and television would kill all other news media. It has not happened. But we must continue to deal with the one important factor: time. How many things can a normal person attend to during the course of 24 hours. That is our challenge."Mario Garcia, CEO, Garcia Media Group, United States
"Norwegians spent 125 million euros on mobile content in 2006. More than 70 percent of this revenue went back to content providers, including newspapers."Erik Nord, Deputy CEO, Telenor, Norway
"While there is some indication that print circulation is dropping in some areas, the percentage of people who look for their news on both the net and in their newspapers is increasing rapidly, and more than makes up for the loss of circulation in print media."Martha Stone, Director of the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, World Association of Newspapers
“The first brand young people adopt is television, then the internet. They view newspapers as an inspirational kind of romantic, aspirational ideal. They see newspapers as a different kind of media.”Robert Barnard, Partner, D-Code,, Canada
“Tell the African story in as much depth and context as possible, physically get around the continent so as to reflect what is really happening on the ground."Thabo Mbeki, President, Republic of South Africa
Full conference coverage, including video, debates, summaries of presentations and much more, can be found at www.capetown2007.co.za
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 77 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail:lkilman@wan.asso.fr">lkilman@wan.asso.fr
Monday, May 21, 2007
The power & reach of mass media: UM1
Purpose: Discuss and understand the omnipresent nature of mass media, the kinds of media products, and the extent to which they affect our daily lives.
The Indian Media Business (2005 statistics)
Segment Revenue (Rs Billion)
Television Broadcasting 185
Press 95
Films 79.67
Music 15
Radio 3.6
Local Media
Outdoor 12
Events 8
Local Print 12
Rural Media 5
Others 5
---------------------------------------------------------
Total 420.27
This figure that is equal to $ 9 billion is likely to touch $ 1375 billion by end 2005!
India has the fastest growh rates for all media majors.
Cable advt included in broadcasting industry.
Source: Lodestar Media Price WaterHouse Coopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2004-2008, Satellite and Cable TV Magazine, Businessworld and Estimates
Investors have poured in over Rs 20 billion in the Indian Media & Entertainment industry between 2004-05. Some of the biggest private equity deals and initial public offers (IPOs) in this sector in Asia have been inked in India—
Eg: Times Now Reuters/ Dainik Jagran, Hindustan Times
Why do investors want a share of the Indian media action?
The biggest strong point in favour of India is the fact that it is the world’s largest secular democracy. We are free to read/ write/ make/ watch/ listen to whatever we feel like. This gives investors a large range of options and adds a depth to the market, unlike the other Asian markets.
While China can match India where the teeming millions are concerned the first barrier is the fact that it is not an open country. There are too many restrictions on media ownership.
In China in print/ in TV most investors make do with joint ventures with state-owned enterprise. China has seen very little strategic investment and almost nothing in content. Strong control mean that except for cheap action films or historicals Chinese entertainment industry cannot try its hand at anything else.
Thus this creates a yawning gap between demand and supply in content.
For every 10 hours of Chinese film/ TV programme needed, there is only one hour available. Therefore all investment that foreign media companies have made in infrastructure – theatres, television distribution system, -- is just lying about without being monetized or optimally utilized.
Both Rupert Murdoch chairman of News Corporation and Richard Parsons of Time Warner say that India is where the action will be.
For both these companies the Indian market has started delivering results.
More than 70 per cent of NewsCorp’s Asian Revienues come from Star India.
Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting has had a successful run in India with Cartoon Network & CNN.
Democracy without a growing economy or a huge population of young and middle aged people with more time and money to spend on various media would have menat little. When you mix all these factors together M&E has the potential to become to the Indian economy what telecom already is—a beacon of the strong economic fundamentals of India and its rising spending power as a nation full of young consumers.
A third factor is also responsible, bolstering the above two. Just as economic liberalization happened in 1991, M&E liberalization began only I 2003. This is when regulation freed publishing to seek institutional money. DTH licenses were issued, multiplexes mushroomed and radio liberalization took place. The media sector is finally free to talk to investors.
Thus every part of the industry began building on its infrastructure and realise its potential. Film companies have been professionalizing for over five years now. Publishers are expanding all over the country—take Penguin for instance. It has launched its Hindi operations and is now branching into regional publications. Broadcasters have more options like DTH and broadband to sell television signals and radio is finally free for licence fees.
Check: Figure 0.2/ 0.3/ 0.4 The Indian Media Business
India's most profitable media companies
Listed and unlisted media companies from the top 1000 companies in India, based on net sales. We are giving only the profit figures.
Listed
Name of company Net Profit Year
Zee Telefilms 313.42 cr. 2004 20.6
Balaji Telefilms 55.41 cr. 2004 -3.5
TV Today 32.08 cr. 2004 23.7
Pentamedia 14.61 cr. 2004 -3.3
Graphics
Videocon
Communications 12.36 cr. 2004 2.9
Mid-day 0.38 cr. 2004 --
Multimedia
Unlisted
Name of company Net Profit Year
Bennett,
Coleman & Co. 166.42 cr. 2003 234.65
Kasturi & Sons 31.55 cr. 2003 --
Living Media 30.71 cr. 2003 --
India
Malayala
Manorama & Co. 14.25 cr. 2003 95.21
UTV Software 9.18 cr. 2003 308.00
Communications
Mathrubhumi
Printing &
Publishing Co. 6.34 cr. 2003 3862.50
Nimbus
Communications 5.62 cr. 2003 25.56
Indian Express 3.91 cr. 2003 132.74
Hindustan Times 1.84 cr. 2003 --
Express
Publications, -14.66 cr. 2003 --
Madurai
Indusind Media& -19.46 cr. 2003 --
Communications
*Ushodaya -29.23 cr. 2003 --
Enterprises
Siticable -34.72 cr. 2003 --
Network
Note: Data on unlisted companies is released after a delay, hence the figures are two years old.
Note: Many leading media companies are private limited companies, such as Ananda Bazar Patrika, Dainik Bhaskar Group and the owners of Dainik Jagran. Hence their figures are not available.
*Note: Ushodaya Enterprises is the promoter of Eenadu, Newstime and ETV.
Source: Business Standard, BS 1000, Feb 2005
Circulation:
The circulation of newspapers in the world increased strongly last year, according to the World Association of Newspapers. At the same time, newspaper advertising revenues made significant gains.
WAN said that global newspaper sales were up 2.1 percent over 2004. Over five years, it is up 4.8 percent. Unlike previous years, growth was not only driven by gains in developing markets, but increases in sales in many mature markets.
Indian newspaper sales increased 8 percent in 2004 and 14 percent in the five-year period. In Pakistan, sales increased +3 percent last year and +13 percent over five years.
Elsewhere in Asia, sales in Singapore were up 3 percent last year, Malaysian sales were up 4 percent, Indonesia saw a 6.5 percent increase and Mongolian newspapers increased sales by 31 percent.
Australia recorded a decline of -1.21 percent in sales in 2004 and -4.83 percent over five years, while New Zealand newspaper sales were stable year-on-year and down -4.96 percent over five years.
The Norwegians and the Japanese remain the world's greatest newspaper buyers with, respectively, 651 and 644 sales per thousand population each day. Finland comes next with 522 followed by Sweden with 489.
On New Titles
The total number of daily titles was up 2 percent in the world in 2004 and up 4.6 percent since 2000, taking the total to 6,580 dailies.
Eighty-one percent of countries for which data was available reported an increase in the number of daily titles last year. Over five years, 44 percent reported an increase in the number of dailies.
The number of daily titles was up 4.1 percent in Asia; +1.3 percent in Europe; +1.1 percent in South America, +1.4 percent in Australia and Oceania; and up 10.4 percent in Africa. The number of titles declined -0.1 percent in North America.
Advertising:
Global newspaper advertising revenues saw their biggest increase in five years and were up 5.3 percent in 2004, following a 2 percent increase in 2003.
Although newspaper advertising revenues are increasing in many markets, newspapers' share of the world ad market declined from 30.5 percent in 2003 to 30.1 percent in 2004. But newspapers remain the world's second largest advertising medium, after television, and are expected to retain this position for many years.
Sixteen countries and regions saw newspaper advertising market share growth in 2004: Argentina, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam."
The Indian Media Business (2005 statistics)
Segment Revenue (Rs Billion)
Television Broadcasting 185
Press 95
Films 79.67
Music 15
Radio 3.6
Local Media
Outdoor 12
Events 8
Local Print 12
Rural Media 5
Others 5
---------------------------------------------------------
Total 420.27
This figure that is equal to $ 9 billion is likely to touch $ 1375 billion by end 2005!
India has the fastest growh rates for all media majors.
Cable advt included in broadcasting industry.
Source: Lodestar Media Price WaterHouse Coopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2004-2008, Satellite and Cable TV Magazine, Businessworld and Estimates
Investors have poured in over Rs 20 billion in the Indian Media & Entertainment industry between 2004-05. Some of the biggest private equity deals and initial public offers (IPOs) in this sector in Asia have been inked in India—
Eg: Times Now Reuters/ Dainik Jagran, Hindustan Times
Why do investors want a share of the Indian media action?
The biggest strong point in favour of India is the fact that it is the world’s largest secular democracy. We are free to read/ write/ make/ watch/ listen to whatever we feel like. This gives investors a large range of options and adds a depth to the market, unlike the other Asian markets.
While China can match India where the teeming millions are concerned the first barrier is the fact that it is not an open country. There are too many restrictions on media ownership.
In China in print/ in TV most investors make do with joint ventures with state-owned enterprise. China has seen very little strategic investment and almost nothing in content. Strong control mean that except for cheap action films or historicals Chinese entertainment industry cannot try its hand at anything else.
Thus this creates a yawning gap between demand and supply in content.
For every 10 hours of Chinese film/ TV programme needed, there is only one hour available. Therefore all investment that foreign media companies have made in infrastructure – theatres, television distribution system, -- is just lying about without being monetized or optimally utilized.
Both Rupert Murdoch chairman of News Corporation and Richard Parsons of Time Warner say that India is where the action will be.
For both these companies the Indian market has started delivering results.
More than 70 per cent of NewsCorp’s Asian Revienues come from Star India.
Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting has had a successful run in India with Cartoon Network & CNN.
Democracy without a growing economy or a huge population of young and middle aged people with more time and money to spend on various media would have menat little. When you mix all these factors together M&E has the potential to become to the Indian economy what telecom already is—a beacon of the strong economic fundamentals of India and its rising spending power as a nation full of young consumers.
A third factor is also responsible, bolstering the above two. Just as economic liberalization happened in 1991, M&E liberalization began only I 2003. This is when regulation freed publishing to seek institutional money. DTH licenses were issued, multiplexes mushroomed and radio liberalization took place. The media sector is finally free to talk to investors.
Thus every part of the industry began building on its infrastructure and realise its potential. Film companies have been professionalizing for over five years now. Publishers are expanding all over the country—take Penguin for instance. It has launched its Hindi operations and is now branching into regional publications. Broadcasters have more options like DTH and broadband to sell television signals and radio is finally free for licence fees.
Check: Figure 0.2/ 0.3/ 0.4 The Indian Media Business
India's most profitable media companies
Listed and unlisted media companies from the top 1000 companies in India, based on net sales. We are giving only the profit figures.
Listed
Name of company Net Profit Year
Zee Telefilms 313.42 cr. 2004 20.6
Balaji Telefilms 55.41 cr. 2004 -3.5
TV Today 32.08 cr. 2004 23.7
Pentamedia 14.61 cr. 2004 -3.3
Graphics
Videocon
Communications 12.36 cr. 2004 2.9
Mid-day 0.38 cr. 2004 --
Multimedia
Unlisted
Name of company Net Profit Year
Bennett,
Coleman & Co. 166.42 cr. 2003 234.65
Kasturi & Sons 31.55 cr. 2003 --
Living Media 30.71 cr. 2003 --
India
Malayala
Manorama & Co. 14.25 cr. 2003 95.21
UTV Software 9.18 cr. 2003 308.00
Communications
Mathrubhumi
Printing &
Publishing Co. 6.34 cr. 2003 3862.50
Nimbus
Communications 5.62 cr. 2003 25.56
Indian Express 3.91 cr. 2003 132.74
Hindustan Times 1.84 cr. 2003 --
Express
Publications, -14.66 cr. 2003 --
Madurai
Indusind Media& -19.46 cr. 2003 --
Communications
*Ushodaya -29.23 cr. 2003 --
Enterprises
Siticable -34.72 cr. 2003 --
Network
Note: Data on unlisted companies is released after a delay, hence the figures are two years old.
Note: Many leading media companies are private limited companies, such as Ananda Bazar Patrika, Dainik Bhaskar Group and the owners of Dainik Jagran. Hence their figures are not available.
*Note: Ushodaya Enterprises is the promoter of Eenadu, Newstime and ETV.
Source: Business Standard, BS 1000, Feb 2005
Circulation:
The circulation of newspapers in the world increased strongly last year, according to the World Association of Newspapers. At the same time, newspaper advertising revenues made significant gains.
WAN said that global newspaper sales were up 2.1 percent over 2004. Over five years, it is up 4.8 percent. Unlike previous years, growth was not only driven by gains in developing markets, but increases in sales in many mature markets.
Indian newspaper sales increased 8 percent in 2004 and 14 percent in the five-year period. In Pakistan, sales increased +3 percent last year and +13 percent over five years.
Elsewhere in Asia, sales in Singapore were up 3 percent last year, Malaysian sales were up 4 percent, Indonesia saw a 6.5 percent increase and Mongolian newspapers increased sales by 31 percent.
Australia recorded a decline of -1.21 percent in sales in 2004 and -4.83 percent over five years, while New Zealand newspaper sales were stable year-on-year and down -4.96 percent over five years.
The Norwegians and the Japanese remain the world's greatest newspaper buyers with, respectively, 651 and 644 sales per thousand population each day. Finland comes next with 522 followed by Sweden with 489.
On New Titles
The total number of daily titles was up 2 percent in the world in 2004 and up 4.6 percent since 2000, taking the total to 6,580 dailies.
Eighty-one percent of countries for which data was available reported an increase in the number of daily titles last year. Over five years, 44 percent reported an increase in the number of dailies.
The number of daily titles was up 4.1 percent in Asia; +1.3 percent in Europe; +1.1 percent in South America, +1.4 percent in Australia and Oceania; and up 10.4 percent in Africa. The number of titles declined -0.1 percent in North America.
Advertising:
Global newspaper advertising revenues saw their biggest increase in five years and were up 5.3 percent in 2004, following a 2 percent increase in 2003.
Although newspaper advertising revenues are increasing in many markets, newspapers' share of the world ad market declined from 30.5 percent in 2003 to 30.1 percent in 2004. But newspapers remain the world's second largest advertising medium, after television, and are expected to retain this position for many years.
Sixteen countries and regions saw newspaper advertising market share growth in 2004: Argentina, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam."
Newspaper Circulation Worldwide: WAN study
The circulation of newspapers in the world increased strongly last year, the World Association of Newspapers announced today. At the same time, newspaper advertising revenues made significant gains.
WAN said that global newspaper sales were up 2.1 percent over the year. Unlike previous years, growth was not only driven by gains in developing markets, but increases in sales in many mature markets.
"It has been an extraordinarily positive 12 months for the global newspaper industry," said Timothy Balding, Director General of the Paris-based WAN. "We have come to expect big circulation gains in developing countries, but it has been a very long time since we saw such a revival in so many mature markets. Newspapers are clearly undergoing a renaissance through new products, new formats, new titles, new editorial approaches, better distribution and better marketing."
"Despite the incredible competitive challenges in the advertising market, newspapers have more than held their own and their revenues are strongly on the increase again," he said.
The new data, from WAN's annual survey of world press trends, was released to more than 1,300 publishers, editors and other senior newspaper executives from 81 countries attending the 58th World Newspaper Congress and 12th World Editors Forum in Seoul, Korea. The main figures showed:
Circulation grew 2.1 percent worldwide in 2004, taking global sales to a new high of 395 million daily. The total number of daily titles was up 2 percent in the world in 2004 and up 4.6 percent since 2000.
2004 saw the best advertising performance in four years, with a revenue increase of 5.3 percent. The audience for newspaper web sites grew 32 percent last year and 350 percent over five years. The survey, which WAN has published annually since 1986, this year includes information on all countries and territories where newspapers are published -- 215 in all.
The 2005 World Press Trends report reveals:
On circulation
The total circulation of dailies in the world climbed 2.1 percent in 2004. Over five years, it is up 4.8 percent.
Sales of newspapers increased in 44 percent of the countries surveyed and were stable in a further 12 percent. 31 percent of those markets show a rise over five years.
More than 395 million people buy a newspaper every day, up from 374 million in 1999.
Average readership is estimated to be more than one billion people each day.
Three-quarters of the world's 100 best selling dailies are now published in Asia. China has overtaken Japan as the country with the highest number of publications in the top 100.
The range of the top 100 goes from the Yomiuri Shimbun of Japan with its 14,067,000 copies daily to six newspapers - two in each country - in China, Thailand and Taiwan, with 600,000 daily sales.
The five largest markets for newspapers are:
China, with with 93.5 million copies sold daily;
India, with 78.8 million copies daily;
Japan, with 70.4 million copies daily;
United States, with 55.6 million;
Germany, 22.1 million.
Sales increased in China, India and Japan in 2004 and declined in the U.S. and Germany.
Circulation sales were up 4.1 percent in Asia in 2004 over the previous year, up 6.3 percent in South America, up 6 percent in Africa, down 1.4 percent in Europe, down 0.2 percent in North America and down 1 percent in Australia and Oceania.\nNewspapers in the European Union saw a slight 0.7 percent drop in circulation in 2004, but sales were only 0.4 percent less (or 360,000 copies) than five years ago.
The circulation of US dailies fell 1.0 percent in 2004 and -2.06 over five years. Morning newspaper sales dropped by only 0.09 percent and are up by 0.25 percent over five years, while sales of evening editions declined by 6.2 and 14 percent respectively.
In Japan, newspaper sales grew by +0.04 percent in 2004, the first increase in many years. Over five years, sales were down -2.13 percent. China newspaper sales continue to perform well, up 3.7 and 26.5 percent over one and five years.
In Russia, the number of daily titles grew: from 472 in 2003 to 485 in 2004, an increase of +2.75 percent. No reliable circulation figures exists for the Russian press as a whole.
In Latin America, where it has been difficult to obtain reliable data, Brazilian newspaper sales was up + 0.8 percent in 2004 but down -17.2 over five years; Costa Rica reported circulation losses of -2.06 percent in 2004 but was up 0.07 percent over five years; while Bolivia saw in increase of +1.5 percent in 2004.
Indian newspaper sales increased 8 percent in 2004 and 14 percent in the five-year period. In Pakistan, sales increased +3 percent last year and +13 percent over five years."
Circulation sales were up 4.1 percent in Asia in 2004 over the previous year, up 6.3 percent in South America, up 6 percent in Africa, down 1.4 percent in Europe, down 0.2 percent in North America and down 1 percent in Australia and Oceania.
Newspapers in the European Union saw a slight 0.7 percent drop in circulation in 2004, but sales were only 0.4 percent less (or 360,000 copies) than five years ago.
* * * * *
The circulation of US dailies fell 1.0 percent in 2004 and -2.06 over five years. Morning newspaper sales dropped by only 0.09 percent and are up by 0.25 percent over five years, while sales of evening editions declined by 6.2 and 14 percent respectively.
In Japan, newspaper sales grew by +0.04 percent in 2004, the first increase in many years. Over five years, sales were down -2.13 percent. China newspaper sales continue to perform well, up 3.7 and 26.5 percent over one and five years.
In Russia, the number of daily titles grew: from 472 in 2003 to 485 in 2004, an increase of +2.75 percent. No reliable circulation figures exists for the Russian press as a whole.
In Latin America, where it has been difficult to obtain reliable data, Brazilian newspaper sales was up + 0.8 percent in 2004 but down -17.2 over five years; Costa Rica reported circulation losses of -2.06 percent in 2004 but was up 0.07 percent over five years; while Bolivia saw in increase of +1.5 percent in 2004.
Indian newspaper sales increased 8 percent in 2004 and 14 percent in the five-year period. In Pakistan, sales increased +3 percent last year and +13 percent over five years.
Elsewhere in Asia, sales in Singapore were up 3 percent last year, Malaysian sales were up 4 percent, Indonesia saw a 6.5 percent increase and Mongolian newspapers increased sales by 31 percent.
Australia recorded a decline of -1.21 percent in sales in 2004 and -4.83 percent over five years, while New Zealand newspaper sales were stable year-on-year and down -4.96 percent over five years.
The Norwegians and the Japanese remain the world's greatest newspaper buyers with, respectively, 651 and 644 sales per thousand population each day. Finland comes next with 522 followed by Sweden with 489.
On New Titles
The total number of daily titles was up 2 percent in the world in 2004 and up 4.6 percent since 2000, taking the total to 6,580 dailies.
Eighty-one percent of countries for which data was available reported an increase in the number of daily titles last year. Over five years, 44 percent reported an increase in the number of dailies.
The number of daily titles was up 4.1 percent in Asia; +1.3 percent in Europe; +1.1 percent in South America, +1.4 percent in Australia and Oceania; and up 10.4 percent in Africa. The number of titles declined -0.1 percent in North America.
On advertising
Global newspaper advertising revenues saw their biggest increase in five years and were up 5.3 percent in 2004, following a 2 percent increase in 2003.
Although newspaper advertising revenues are increasing in many markets, newspapers' share of the world ad market declined from 30.5 percent in 2003 to 30.1 percent in 2004. But newspapers remain the world's second largest advertising medium, after television, and are expected to retain this position for many years.
Sixteen countries and regions saw newspaper advertising market share growth in 2004: Argentina, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.",
Elsewhere in Asia, sales in Singapore were up 3 percent last year, Malaysian sales were up 4 percent, Indonesia saw a 6.5 percent increase and Mongolian newspapers increased sales by 31 percent.
Sixteen countries and regions saw newspaper advertising market share growth in 2004: Argentina, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Over five years, newspapers in 19 countries and territories saw increased market share: Argentina, Belgium, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Newspaper advertising revenues in the USA, by far the largest newspaper advertising market in the world, increased by 3.93 percent in 2004, compared with a 1.9 percent increase in 2003 and a drop the two previous years.
Internet
Internet traffic grew 32 percent last year and 350 percent over five years for the newspaper web sites for which data is available over several years.
Internet advertising revenues continue to grow rapidly, and were up 21 percent in 2004, the highest growth for five years.
Free Dailies
The size of the free daily market in several countries is impressive; in Spain, free daily distribution represents a huge 40 percent of the market; in Italy, 29 percent; in Denmark 27 percent, and in Portugal, 25 percent.
Format Changes
The trend from broadsheet to compact format is accelerating, with a record 56 such switches in 2004. 36 percent of newspapers are now published in compact format and the number has increased by 2 percent in 12 months.
In addition to providing a broader picture of the world newspaper market, the report provides a wealth of unusual and interesting facts about newspapers from around the world, such as:
In Bolivia, only 5 percent of the population buys a new newspaper occasionally.
In Bosnia, 53 percent of adults have no confidence in any print media
There is no printing press in Equatorial Guinea and newspapers are photocopied.
Indian newspapers, published in 18 languages, include not only bi-lingual but tri- lingual publications.
In Jordan, where dailies are obliged by law to have a minimum capital of 700,000 US$, there is also a legal obligation for editors-in-chief to have ten consecutive years as a journalist before they can be appointed.
In Mozambique, the chief distribution means for dailies is by fax. These fax publications consist of four pages, including ads.
The Uzbek government has invented newspapers without news. Private newspapers are allowed to publish advertising, horoscopes and other features - but no news.
The World Press Trends 2005 edition is available by contacting the World Association of Newspapers, 7 rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 75005 Paris France.
Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00, Fax +33 1 47 42 49 48. E-mail: contact_us@wan.asso.fr.
2004 World Association of Newspapers - All Rights Reserved -
WAN said that global newspaper sales were up 2.1 percent over the year. Unlike previous years, growth was not only driven by gains in developing markets, but increases in sales in many mature markets.
"It has been an extraordinarily positive 12 months for the global newspaper industry," said Timothy Balding, Director General of the Paris-based WAN. "We have come to expect big circulation gains in developing countries, but it has been a very long time since we saw such a revival in so many mature markets. Newspapers are clearly undergoing a renaissance through new products, new formats, new titles, new editorial approaches, better distribution and better marketing."
"Despite the incredible competitive challenges in the advertising market, newspapers have more than held their own and their revenues are strongly on the increase again," he said.
The new data, from WAN's annual survey of world press trends, was released to more than 1,300 publishers, editors and other senior newspaper executives from 81 countries attending the 58th World Newspaper Congress and 12th World Editors Forum in Seoul, Korea. The main figures showed:
Circulation grew 2.1 percent worldwide in 2004, taking global sales to a new high of 395 million daily. The total number of daily titles was up 2 percent in the world in 2004 and up 4.6 percent since 2000.
2004 saw the best advertising performance in four years, with a revenue increase of 5.3 percent. The audience for newspaper web sites grew 32 percent last year and 350 percent over five years. The survey, which WAN has published annually since 1986, this year includes information on all countries and territories where newspapers are published -- 215 in all.
The 2005 World Press Trends report reveals:
On circulation
The total circulation of dailies in the world climbed 2.1 percent in 2004. Over five years, it is up 4.8 percent.
Sales of newspapers increased in 44 percent of the countries surveyed and were stable in a further 12 percent. 31 percent of those markets show a rise over five years.
More than 395 million people buy a newspaper every day, up from 374 million in 1999.
Average readership is estimated to be more than one billion people each day.
Three-quarters of the world's 100 best selling dailies are now published in Asia. China has overtaken Japan as the country with the highest number of publications in the top 100.
The range of the top 100 goes from the Yomiuri Shimbun of Japan with its 14,067,000 copies daily to six newspapers - two in each country - in China, Thailand and Taiwan, with 600,000 daily sales.
The five largest markets for newspapers are:
China, with with 93.5 million copies sold daily;
India, with 78.8 million copies daily;
Japan, with 70.4 million copies daily;
United States, with 55.6 million;
Germany, 22.1 million.
Sales increased in China, India and Japan in 2004 and declined in the U.S. and Germany.
Circulation sales were up 4.1 percent in Asia in 2004 over the previous year, up 6.3 percent in South America, up 6 percent in Africa, down 1.4 percent in Europe, down 0.2 percent in North America and down 1 percent in Australia and Oceania.\nNewspapers in the European Union saw a slight 0.7 percent drop in circulation in 2004, but sales were only 0.4 percent less (or 360,000 copies) than five years ago.
The circulation of US dailies fell 1.0 percent in 2004 and -2.06 over five years. Morning newspaper sales dropped by only 0.09 percent and are up by 0.25 percent over five years, while sales of evening editions declined by 6.2 and 14 percent respectively.
In Japan, newspaper sales grew by +0.04 percent in 2004, the first increase in many years. Over five years, sales were down -2.13 percent. China newspaper sales continue to perform well, up 3.7 and 26.5 percent over one and five years.
In Russia, the number of daily titles grew: from 472 in 2003 to 485 in 2004, an increase of +2.75 percent. No reliable circulation figures exists for the Russian press as a whole.
In Latin America, where it has been difficult to obtain reliable data, Brazilian newspaper sales was up + 0.8 percent in 2004 but down -17.2 over five years; Costa Rica reported circulation losses of -2.06 percent in 2004 but was up 0.07 percent over five years; while Bolivia saw in increase of +1.5 percent in 2004.
Indian newspaper sales increased 8 percent in 2004 and 14 percent in the five-year period. In Pakistan, sales increased +3 percent last year and +13 percent over five years."
Circulation sales were up 4.1 percent in Asia in 2004 over the previous year, up 6.3 percent in South America, up 6 percent in Africa, down 1.4 percent in Europe, down 0.2 percent in North America and down 1 percent in Australia and Oceania.
Newspapers in the European Union saw a slight 0.7 percent drop in circulation in 2004, but sales were only 0.4 percent less (or 360,000 copies) than five years ago.
* * * * *
The circulation of US dailies fell 1.0 percent in 2004 and -2.06 over five years. Morning newspaper sales dropped by only 0.09 percent and are up by 0.25 percent over five years, while sales of evening editions declined by 6.2 and 14 percent respectively.
In Japan, newspaper sales grew by +0.04 percent in 2004, the first increase in many years. Over five years, sales were down -2.13 percent. China newspaper sales continue to perform well, up 3.7 and 26.5 percent over one and five years.
In Russia, the number of daily titles grew: from 472 in 2003 to 485 in 2004, an increase of +2.75 percent. No reliable circulation figures exists for the Russian press as a whole.
In Latin America, where it has been difficult to obtain reliable data, Brazilian newspaper sales was up + 0.8 percent in 2004 but down -17.2 over five years; Costa Rica reported circulation losses of -2.06 percent in 2004 but was up 0.07 percent over five years; while Bolivia saw in increase of +1.5 percent in 2004.
Indian newspaper sales increased 8 percent in 2004 and 14 percent in the five-year period. In Pakistan, sales increased +3 percent last year and +13 percent over five years.
Elsewhere in Asia, sales in Singapore were up 3 percent last year, Malaysian sales were up 4 percent, Indonesia saw a 6.5 percent increase and Mongolian newspapers increased sales by 31 percent.
Australia recorded a decline of -1.21 percent in sales in 2004 and -4.83 percent over five years, while New Zealand newspaper sales were stable year-on-year and down -4.96 percent over five years.
The Norwegians and the Japanese remain the world's greatest newspaper buyers with, respectively, 651 and 644 sales per thousand population each day. Finland comes next with 522 followed by Sweden with 489.
On New Titles
The total number of daily titles was up 2 percent in the world in 2004 and up 4.6 percent since 2000, taking the total to 6,580 dailies.
Eighty-one percent of countries for which data was available reported an increase in the number of daily titles last year. Over five years, 44 percent reported an increase in the number of dailies.
The number of daily titles was up 4.1 percent in Asia; +1.3 percent in Europe; +1.1 percent in South America, +1.4 percent in Australia and Oceania; and up 10.4 percent in Africa. The number of titles declined -0.1 percent in North America.
On advertising
Global newspaper advertising revenues saw their biggest increase in five years and were up 5.3 percent in 2004, following a 2 percent increase in 2003.
Although newspaper advertising revenues are increasing in many markets, newspapers' share of the world ad market declined from 30.5 percent in 2003 to 30.1 percent in 2004. But newspapers remain the world's second largest advertising medium, after television, and are expected to retain this position for many years.
Sixteen countries and regions saw newspaper advertising market share growth in 2004: Argentina, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.",
Elsewhere in Asia, sales in Singapore were up 3 percent last year, Malaysian sales were up 4 percent, Indonesia saw a 6.5 percent increase and Mongolian newspapers increased sales by 31 percent.
Sixteen countries and regions saw newspaper advertising market share growth in 2004: Argentina, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Over five years, newspapers in 19 countries and territories saw increased market share: Argentina, Belgium, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Newspaper advertising revenues in the USA, by far the largest newspaper advertising market in the world, increased by 3.93 percent in 2004, compared with a 1.9 percent increase in 2003 and a drop the two previous years.
Internet
Internet traffic grew 32 percent last year and 350 percent over five years for the newspaper web sites for which data is available over several years.
Internet advertising revenues continue to grow rapidly, and were up 21 percent in 2004, the highest growth for five years.
Free Dailies
The size of the free daily market in several countries is impressive; in Spain, free daily distribution represents a huge 40 percent of the market; in Italy, 29 percent; in Denmark 27 percent, and in Portugal, 25 percent.
Format Changes
The trend from broadsheet to compact format is accelerating, with a record 56 such switches in 2004. 36 percent of newspapers are now published in compact format and the number has increased by 2 percent in 12 months.
In addition to providing a broader picture of the world newspaper market, the report provides a wealth of unusual and interesting facts about newspapers from around the world, such as:
In Bolivia, only 5 percent of the population buys a new newspaper occasionally.
In Bosnia, 53 percent of adults have no confidence in any print media
There is no printing press in Equatorial Guinea and newspapers are photocopied.
Indian newspapers, published in 18 languages, include not only bi-lingual but tri- lingual publications.
In Jordan, where dailies are obliged by law to have a minimum capital of 700,000 US$, there is also a legal obligation for editors-in-chief to have ten consecutive years as a journalist before they can be appointed.
In Mozambique, the chief distribution means for dailies is by fax. These fax publications consist of four pages, including ads.
The Uzbek government has invented newspapers without news. Private newspapers are allowed to publish advertising, horoscopes and other features - but no news.
The World Press Trends 2005 edition is available by contacting the World Association of Newspapers, 7 rue Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 75005 Paris France.
Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00, Fax +33 1 47 42 49 48. E-mail: contact_us@wan.asso.fr.
2004 World Association of Newspapers - All Rights Reserved -
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