New Ukraine free daily Puls - Newspaper Innovation

FDN NEWSLETTER NO. 42 – www.newspaperinnovation.com - 900 subscribers - January 2009
Ukraine Obituaries Readership Advertising London Lite
One launch & two
closures (p. 1-2)
Three titles closed in
US – one new (p. 2)
Spanish free circulation down 25%
etro Spain closed down 7 editions January 29.
The January sales were down 60% compared to
the year before, the same was expected for the
next months. According to Metro, the paper
made a profit 2004. But competition increased. In 2005
and 2006 Qué! and ADN entered the market. 20 Minutos
was launched - as “Madrid / Barcelona y Mas” - in 2000.
Apart from the national dailies also free business dailies
and two dozen local free dailies are available.
M
Metro invested €25.5m in Spain. The closure is expected
to lead to a loss of €5-6m. The Metro press release:
… with increased competition and a steadily declining
advertising market the operation has been experiencing
losses during the last years. Several merger
opportunities have been investigated during 2008,
however, the size of the combined losses of the
Spanish free press market made it extremely difficult to
find an alternative that would have improved the future
financial performance of Metro Spain.
Metro was launched in 2001 in Barcelona and Madrid. In
2003 Sevilla, Zaragoza and La Coruna were launched,
followed by Alicante and Valencia in 2004. In 2005
Castilla la Mancha, Malaga, Elche and a national edition
started. In the same year management was replaced
because of ‘unhealthy’ outsourcing contracts.
Alicante, Valencia, Castilla la Mancha and Elche were
operated together with local publisher Ediciones Primera
Plana de Alicante, S.L. (El Periódico de Alicante).
After the launch of ADN Metro started in Bilbao, Castellon
and the Canary Islands; the last as a franchise by online
paper Canarias Ahora. Malaga and Elche closed in 2005
and 2007. In November 2008 Zaragoza, La Coruna,
Bilbao and the Canary Islands editions were shut down.
The last national edition was published on 23 December.
In the closure, which will take three months to complete,
more than 80 fte’s will be lost. The remaining editions had
a combined circulation of 500,000. With the closure, the
share of free dailies in Spain dropped to 44%.
During the year 2008 the joint circulation of the national
Spanish free dailies dropped from around 4 million in the
first five months to less than 2.5 million in December.
Average circulation over the whole year is 3.2 million,
against 3.8 million in 2007.
Where did Nyhedsavisen’s
readers go? (p. 4)
Creativity in the
Netherlands (p. 4)
FDN Newsletter no. 42 – January 2009 – page 1 of 8
DMGT hangs on to
freesheet (p. 4-5)
All papers, except 20 Minutos, closed down editions in
2008, while all papers cut down circulation. The
December 2008 circulation was 25% less than the
circulation in December 2007.
In December Spanish publisher Vocento announced the
closure of editions of their free daily Qué! in Murcia, A
Coruña, Bilbao and Mallorca. Murcia and Mallorca
published their last editions on December 23. The
Mallorca edition, however, is about to be relaunched. This
time only with one page of local news from the island, but
also with local advertising. The offices in Mallorca will be
closed, the only news page will be made in Madrid. The
Qué! editions in A Coruña and Bilbao, however, are still
available on the Qué! website.
Also offices in Alicante, Valencia. Málaga, Asturias and
Coruña will be closed down in January. The Coruna and
Bilbao editions, however, are still published.
Spanish free daily ADN will end its internet site ADN.es.
There were 40 people working for the digital version. ADN
stopped already some print editions in 2008.
20 Minutos cut 40 jobs while Qué! - losing €12m this year
- will say goodbye to 91 staff members. Metro let go 27
people, including director Carlos Salas, in December.
ADN closed down the Galician editions, the number of
people that lost their job in the operation is not known.
In July 20 Minutos already sacked 20 people while in
January another 20 will go, bringing to total to 80. Salaries
at the paper were cut as well to avoid further dismissals.
At least 300 people have lost their job at the four national
free dailies in Spain as a result of the economic crisis.
LAUNCHES
New Ukraine free daily Puls
In December 2008 two Ukraine free dailies: 15 Minut and
Obzor, both launched in 2006, closed down. Only free
evening paper Vecherkom seemed to remain.
In October, however, a
new free morning paper,
Puls Kieva started in the
Ukraine capital. Oleg
Lysenko, former editor of
15 Minut is the director
of the publisher Media
Point.
The paper usually counts
16 pages and is
distributed from Monday
to Friday with a
circulation of 110,000.

Direct Nice
The Direct Nice edition by the French Bolloré Group (with
Le Monde owning a 30% share), has been launched on
January 20. Original plans mentioned January 6.
Circulation is 35,000. Full name is Direct Nice Plus,
indicating the paper is also part of Plus group, published
in several French cities and owned by local publishers. At
the same time the
circulation of the Paris
edition Direct Matin,
launched in February
2007, will be increased
with 50,000 to almost
500,000.
In the first months of 2009
also new Direct editions for
Toulouse (30,000 copies)
and Strasbourg are
planned. In total the
circulation of the Direct group - also publishing a Bretagne
edition (called Direct Nantes from now on) - will rise to
800,000 according to Jean-Christophe Thiery, president
of Bolloré Média, making it the largest free daily in
France, before Metro and 20 Minutes.
In the 800,000 also the Plus-editions in Lille, Montpellier,
Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille are included. These
editions, however, are not part of the Bolloré group.
Metro and 20 Minutes (8 editions each) distribute both
around 730,000 copies in France. Bolloré also publishes
free evening paper Direct Soir (circulation 500,000) and
owns the commercial TV station Direct8.
Portland Daily Sun
February 3, the first issue of the Portland Daily Sun was
distributed in Portland
(Maine). The paper
counts 16 pages and
can be read online as
well as e-paper.
Editor-in-chief Curtis
Robinson and two
other journalist will be
responsible for the
content of the Sun.
The Portland Daily
Sun is the sister paper
of the Berlin Daily
Sun, the Laconia
Daily Sun and the
Conway Daily Sun
(New Hampshire).
Circulation is 3000 while the paper is distributed from
Tuesday to Saturday. Total circulation of the group is
somewhat below 40,000.
OBITUARIES
Baltimore Examiner closes down
The free Baltimore Examiner will publish its last issue on
February 15. The paper was launched in April 2006 as the
third edition of the Examiner-chain, owned by Denver
billionaire Philip Anschutz. Other editions are in San
Francisco (2003) and Washington (2005).
FDN Newsletter no. 42 – January 2009 – page 2 of 8
According to the Baltimore Sun, more than ninety people
will lose their job as a result of the closure. Also some
staff in Washington will lose their job. The internet portal
of the paper will also cover Baltimore in the future.
Anschutz’ Clarity Media Group tried to find a buyer for the
Baltimore edition but during this recession no company
was interested. Clarity Chief Executive Officer Ryan
McKibben said in a letter sent to Examiner staff:
This is very disappointing for all of us. Obviously, this is
not what we envisioned when we launched the
newspaper.
The Baltimore Examiner had a circulation of 130,000. In
2008 the distribution was changed. Instead of delivering
the paper door-to-door in affluent neighbourhoods, homedelivery
was cut down to Thursday and Sunday, while the
paper was available in boxes on other days.
Tahoe Daily Tribune non-daily
The Tahoe Daily Tribune moved from printing five days a
week to three days on February 2. The cost of newsprint
and decreasing ad revenues because of the national
economy were reasons for the move. It will be published
on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays instead of the
current schedule of Monday through Friday. (E&P)
It started as a paid weekly in 1958 and moved to a free
daily schedule in 2007. Scripps bought the paper in 1963.
In 1975 it was acquired by Reno-based Swift
Newspapers, now Swift Communications.
Aspen Times ends Sunday edition
Free daily The Aspen Times (Colorado) went from 7 to 6
days in December. The Sunday edition was the ‘least
profitable’ according to the editor. (free-daily.com)
Hoy New York closed
On December 30, free Spanish language daily Hoy was
closed down. 16 staff members lost their job. Hoy started
in New York City in 1998; the Tribune Company
(Newsday NY) bought it as part of an acquisition in 2000.
In 2003 and 2004 Chicago and LA editions launched.
In August 2004 it was revealed that Hoy New York was
implicated in the Newsday circulation scandal. After
Chicago and LA also the New York edition moved to
controlled (free) circulation from January 2006 on
(Monday to Saturday).
In 2007 Hoy was bought by ImpreMedia LLC, publisher of
paid daily El Diario La Prensa. The editions in Chicago
and Los Angeles were not part of the deal. Hoy had a
circulation between 50,000 and 60,000 in New York.
Metro Bordeaux edition
Metro France plans to close their Bordeaux edition in
order to bring down costs. Metro Bordeaux has a
circulation of 26,000. The president of Metro France,
Jean-Michel Arnaud, said in Le Monde that it will have no
impact on circulation as Metro will distribute the ‘national’
edition in Bordeaux from January on.
This is interesting, as Metro does not publish a ‘national’
edition in France. Perhaps they will distribute the Paris
edition in Bordeaux - this will affect readership, as there
are two other local free dailies in Bordeaux. In February,
however, the paper was still published.
20 Minutes distributes 28,000 copies of their edition in
Bordeaux while also local paid paper Sud-Ouest
publishes a free daily: Bordeaux7 (part of the Plus-group),
also with a circulation of 28,000.

Ukraine free daily Obzor closes
After finding no buyer for Ukraine free daily Obzor, Dutch
owner TMG (Telegraaf Media Group) decided to close
down the paper. The December 26 issue was the last. On
the frontpage of the paper, editor in chief Yuri Svirko is
asking for new investors. According to Svirko, Obzor is
the third popular paper in Ukraine capital Kiev. In a recent
comment on this blog, Svirko is offering the paper for €1,-.
Obzor started in 2006 as a three-times a week paper, in
2007 it was converted into a daily.
15 minut Ukraine closed down
Also the other Ukraine free morning daily 15 minut closed
down at the end of December 2008. The last issue is from
December 24. KP Media launched 15 minut in June 2006.
In 2007 it launched editions in Donetsk, Odessa, Kharkiv,
Dnepropetrovsk and Lviv. In Lviv the paper was published
in Ukrainian, in the other markets in Russian.
Total circulation was around 270,000. KP Media was
founded in 1995 by US citizen Jed Sunden and publishes
magazines, the free English language weekly Kyiv Post
and operates the Internet news site Korrespondent.net.
24timer Odense & Aalborg
The Aalborg and Odense editions of 24timer in Denmark
published their last issue on December 18. The Odense
edition was closed in December 2008 while the Aalborg
edition is replaced with a general ‘West’ edition. The
Copenhagen edition is now called ‘East’. Apart from that
also an Arhus edition is published.
The differences between the editions are minimal or nonexistent.
Some ads are only in one or two versions, but
there is no specific local content in the three editions.
PLANS
The Printed Blog still weekly
The Printed Blog, a project whereby content from blogs is
distributed in print for free, published its first issue 27
January. If there’s enough content and if advertisers are
willing, the paper want to move up to a daily (even twice a
day) schedule in the future: “The papers are distributed to
neighbourhood pickup points in A.M. and P.M. editions”
according to the website.
The Printed Blog is founded by Joshua Karp is distributed
in Chicago, although more cities are planned. The editors
showed that they learned the basic rule of print journalism
by picking the “sex sells” picture for the first issue.
Founder and publisher Joshua Karp commented on
newspaperinnovation.com:
We have not raised one penny of outside funding, and
that is the only reason why we’re not daily. We’ve
actually got a fairly good revenue stream for selling ads
before the first issue was even launched. We’ll have a
major investment soon, and the frequency and number
of locations will increase quickly.
Israel Today weekend delayed
Israel Today’s weekend edition, planned to be launched
October 2008 (after the Jewish New Year’s holiday) is
postponed. A spokesman in business paper Globes said:
We’re continuing organization, including the hiring of
employees, and logistics, for the publication of a
weekend edition. We have not yet set the launch date.
FDN Newsletter no. 42 – January 2009 – page 3 of 8
CIRCULATION
Swiss free circulation declines
In Switzerland, one of the few European countries with a
rising circulation of free newspapers during the last years,
circulation is declining somewhat when the end of 2008 is
compared to 2007.
Responsible are the two newbies on the scene: .ch -
launched in September 2007 - and News (Basler Zeitung,
Berner Zeitung, Tages-Anzeiger) - launched two months
later. When .ch was relaunched in October 2008 with a
new design, circulation was downsized from 430,000 to
370,000. Household distribution was stopped altogether.
When News closed the Mittelland edition in the beginning
of December, the publisher said the circulation of 334,000
would be unaffected because the other editions would
increase their distribution. But according to the new 2009
rate card, circulation is now 300,000.
Because both 20 Minuten/Minutes and Le Matin Bleu
increased circulation, total circulation of free dailies in
Switzerland only declined with 50,000 copies. The
circulation of .ch and News is still unaudited.
Marc Walder, managing director of Swiss publisher
Ringier, is convinced that two free dailies are enough for
Switzerland: 20 Minuten (Tamedia) in the morning and
Blick am Abend (Ringier) in the evening. In fact there are
three national morning free dailies in German Switzerland
(also .ch and News), one evening paper, a local free
paper in Basle and a free business paper as well.
Blick am Abend, the free evening sister paper of leading
paid tabloid Blick, distributes 270,000 daily copies
according to Walder. This is more than the 211,000 that
were reported in the last official audit. Ringier plans to
distribute Blick am Abend also outside the metropolitan
areas of Bern, Zurich and Basle. (NZZ)
Österreich down in free circulation
In December the new Austrian circulation data for the first
six months of 2008 became available. Only free/paid
paper Österreich is included in this official ÖAK survey so
far. Österreich had a free circulation of 120,000 in these
first six months, 89,000 in Vienna. In 2007 free circulation
was 144,000 (100,000 in Vienna). Paid circulation of
Österreich was stable at almost 170,000.
The circulation of other free papers in Austria is not
officially audited. The largest free daily, Heute, only
reveals readership data: 544,000 according to their own
research. As the paper also claimed a circulation of
around 500,000 (more than 300,000 in Vienna), this is
probably too high. TT Kompakt (Innsbruck, Moser
Holding) distributes 9,000 copies while Oberösterreichs
Neue (Die Neue) in Linz claims a circulation of 60,000.
READERSHIP
Austrian frees in MA-survey?
More than 20% of the Austrian newspaper circulation
consists of free newspapers, but Austria is still the only
country in Europe - although I am not sure about Albania -
were free papers are not allowed to take part in either
readership surveys or circulation audits.
In the future something ‘might’ happen as the readership
survey organization Media-Analyse is now putting
together a group that investigates the matter. The answer
is not expected before the summer, meaning that even

with a positive answer free readership will not be audited -
if ever - before 2010. (Der Standard)
More readers for Swiss .ch
Swiss media website Persoenlich interviewed free daily
.ch manager Caroline Thoma 100 days after .ch changed
its concept and the way of distribution: more
entertainment and no more household distribution.
According to Thoma, readership is already up with 50% to
300,000. The source for this number is not the official
Swiss readership survey, but .ch’s own research. The
official WEMF Mach Basic 2009-I survey is expected 24
March.
The main goal of .ch, however, is to become the second
in the Swiss market after market leader 20 Minuten. Now
.ch and News (owned by 20 Minuten publisher Tamedia)
are competing for this 2 nd position.
Swiss free daily .ch relaunched in October 2008 and
abolished home distribution altogether. According to the
publisher readership has already increased with 50
percent. A new company, called “Punkt ch AG” will be
publishing the company.
Reach of frees increases in Israel
In the second half of 2008, Israel’s free dailies Israel
Today, 24 Minutes, and Israel Post reached 26.9% of the
population. In the first six months of 2008 this was 22.5%,
according to a TGI survey.
The TGI survey also showed that 11.3% of the public only
read free dailies in the last period, up from 8.5% in the
first half of 2008. A quarter of the readers of free dailies
read more than one title.
The number of newspaper readers increased to 60.9%
(59.1% in 2008-I). Paid newspapers Yediot Ahronot,
Ma’ariv, Haaretz and Globes saw readership drop from
50.1% to 49.3%, indicating that the increase in readership
was caused by free dailies.
Israel Today was in second place in terms of readership,
and was closing in on Yediot Ahronot while widening the
gap with Ma’ariv. (Globes)
Irish execs media habits
Irish business execs read more than two newspapers on
weekdays (35 minutes), watch an hour and a half TV and
listen to an hour and a half of radio, according to the
Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland. IAPI
interviewed 480 senior business executives in 2008.
The Irish Times was the best-read daily paper (read by
655), against 38% for the Irish Independent and 18% for
the Irish Examiner. Free daily Metro is read by 13%,
ahead of the Financial Times (12%) and free daily Herald
AM (8%). (Sunday Business Post)
Nyhedsavisen’s readers
In September of this year free Danish daily Nyhedsavisen
closed down. In the first six months of 2008 the paper was
the best-read newspaper in Denmark. What happened
with the readers? Where did they go? Two of three
remaining free newspapers profited most - apparently free
newspapers compete mostly among themselves.
MetroXpress (Metro International) seemed to have
profited the most from the closure. The paper increased
readership in September (in August circulation of free
dailies is much lower, in July they don’t publish), lost
FDN Newsletter no. 42 – January 2009 – page 4 of 8
some readers next month but is the best-read paper in
November.
Urban is now third, after Jyllands-Posten, and having
more readers now than in any other month in 2008. Third
free daily 24timer has now a much lower readership than
in the first six months, probably because the paper cut
down on circulation.
Also Jyllands-Posten is picking up in readership again,
beginning after the summer, although there is a little loss
in November. Other paid papers are mostly unaffected.
Politiken had a good October month, but remained stable
overall. Berlingske showed in increase in August only.
Tabloids BT and Ekstra Bladet show similar patterns.
Both did well in the first six months, but are moving
downwards in the last months, except for November.
ADVERTISING
MetroXpress/24timer advertising
Danish free dailies MetroXpress and 24timer, both
majority owned by Metro International, offer joint
advertising in their papers, according to an ad in 24timer.
In total they reach one million readers in Denmark.
According to the last readership survey (December 2008)
24timer had 446,000 readers and MetroXpress 561,000.
Commercial creativity at De Pers
Last week, at a conference in Utrecht organized by the
School of Journalism, Ben Rogmans, the publisher of
Dutch free daily De Pers talked about the many ways in
which De Pers combines commercial efforts with
journalism. A ‘to-do’ list for commercial journalists,
although some audience members found some efforts not
acceptable.
Editorial barters: branding a page with a name of a
commercial party (advertiser) and using input from that
party. De Pers does that with a business page (IEX)
and a travel page (Columbus travel agency).
Market barters: giving editorial attention in exchange
for sponsoring possibilities. De Pers covered the Dutch
championship cycling in exchange of free billboards at
the event.
Webshop: the editors select books from a
publisher/advertiser and devote (positive) attention to
these books that are sold via the website of De Pers.
There are also extra ads from this advertiser.
Specials about certain topics (work, travel) that attract
advertisers.
Sponsored items: at the Olympics a Dutch rowing team
was covered extensively, coverage paid for by their
sponsors.
Advertorials: ads that look like editorial content,
although with the use of a different font so it must be
clear to the readers that it’s not an editorial.
Buying editorial space: done by a 9292 - a public
transport information organization, a mortgage
company and by a publisher of dictionary (Van Dale).
Requested attention: the national railways provided
material from Beijing at the Olympics that was
sponsored, an special about the gay ‘coming out’ day
was sponsored/requested.
Travel: sports journalists cover special European
football stadiums; readers can book a trip to those
places with a famous footballer.

PUBLISHERS
Metro Q4 2008 and full year results
The economic recession hit Metro International in 2008,
the company reported today that net sales decreased in
2008 by 11% to €295.5m (2007: €331.1m).
Although the company reported an operating profit of
€17.3m (2007: loss of €15.3m) for 2008 this was mainly
the result of the Schibsted transaction in Sweden
(€35.2m) and the 24 Timer acquisition (€2.4m) in
Denmark. Without these, the operating loss is €20m
(2007: loss of €18.6m).
In 2008 Sweden, Northern Europe and the ‘Rest of the
World’ segments reported EBIT profits of €14.0m. The US
and Southern Europe reported EBIT losses of €14.3m,
the US and Spain were responsible for €10.8m of these.
In Q4 there was a net loss of €9.8m (2007: profit of
€3.9m). The shareholders’ authorization will be asked
later this month to raise SEK 550m (€52m) through a new
issue of Swedish Depository Receipts (SDRs).
The Lite Saga
Russian billionaire and ex-KGB agent Alexander Lebedev
bought London’s Evening Standard. In The Guardian
Lebedev declared he had no intention of interfering in
British politics if he became the Standard’s new owner.
“My influence would be next to zero.” That would be the
first Russian newspaper owner who would act in such a
way. But if you can move ‘up’ (is it up?) from spying to
publishing, I suppose anything is possible.
Despite the words of DMGT’s Martin Morgan in the
Guardian: “we keep printing London Lite”, the position of
free daily London Lite is far from clear. The deal does not
include the sale of London Lite. But the paper used
resources from the Evening Standard.
Advertisers and media bureaus interviewed on UK media
website Brand Republic seem puzzled by the fact that
DMGT, the former owner of the Evening Standard is
hanging on to the free sister paper of the Standard:
London Lite. The general consensus is that there might
be room for one free evening paper but not for two.
The strategy of DMGT is to bring Lite closer to free
morning paper Metro, meaning probably joint advertising
packages and maybe some content sharing now the
Standard-well has dried up. Brand Republic:
Karen Wall, previously the assistant managing director
of Associated’s free newspaper division (under boss
Steve Auckland), has been made the chief operating
officer of London Lite, with a brief to develop the brand.
And Grant Woodthorpe, the ad director on Metro, has
been given an expanded role incorporating London Lite.
The big question, however, is why Lebedev allowed
DMGT to go on with a competitor in the evening market. If
DMGT wanted to get rid of the Evening Standard so
badly, why not close the money-losing Lite at the same
time? It would be a win-win for both Lebedev (one
competitor less) and DMGT (a bloodletting asset gone).
The move - or rather: not-move - of Lebedev can only be
explained by ignorance or because he is not interested in
developing a healthy afternoon paper at all. But how can
DMGT’s behaviour be explained? Why hang on to a
product that only was designed to protect The Evening
Standard, a paper they no longer own?
Richard Addis cites Rupert Murdoch’s thelondonpaper
were the staff thinks it will have the free evening market
FDN Newsletter no. 42 – January 2009 – page 5 of 8
for themselves and predicts a free morning edition as
well. But of course the Lite is still around.
Could it be a boys-thing between Murdoch and
Rothermere (DMGT)? High Noon? Neither of them wants
to pull out first - nor make peace? This town ain’t big
enough for both of us?
NYT write-down of Metro Boston
The New York Times Company does not have too much
faith in quick profits from their investment in the Boston
Metro, quoting from their Q4 results report:
… a non-cash charge of $7.1 million ($4.1 million after
tax, or $.03 per share) for the write-down of our 49
percent investment in Metro Boston LLC, which
publishes a free daily newspaper in the Greater Boston
area. This charge is included in “Net income/(loss) from
joint ventures” in our Condensed Consolidated
Statements of Operations. (Market Watch)
Tamedia free dailies profits
Martin Kall, Chairman of the Board of Swiss publisher
Tamedia said in his “Dreikönigstagung” (Epiphany
speech) that profits of Tamedia have grown substantially
thanks to expansion into other (mainly print) areas.
Ten years ago the company published three papers, now
this has grown to almost 20. Important in this respect are
free dailies 20 Minuten/Minutes and News according to
Krall. Printing free dailies means also that printing presses
can be used more efficiently, which in turn is beneficial for
the other papers. (Klein Report)
That 20 Minuten/Minutes is making a profit is no surprise,
but that News - only launched in December 2007 - is
making a profit is not very likely.
Live from heute to Kronen
The free weekend magazine Live, launched in March
2007 by free daily heute, is sold to Austrian paid market
leader Kronen Zeitung. The magazine that contains TVlistings
and covers celebrities and lifestyle was inserted in
the Christmas edition of the Vienna edition of Kronen
Zeitung.
In February all copies of Kronen Zeitung will contain the
magazine on Fridays, meaning a total circulation of 1.2
million. (Der Standard)
The move is probably another act in the war between
Kronen 50%-owner Hans Dichand and the other owner,
German publisher WAZ. The ‘free-war’ between them
started when WAZ forced Dichand to close down his free
daily U-Express in 2004. Within six months another free
daily, heute, was launched, with as CEO Dichands
daughter-in-law Eva Dichand.
Who financed the new paper has always been a mystery.
Hans Dichand cannot participate in any new paper
without the consent of WAZ. The two owners only meet in
court (in Switzerland). A new provocation was the weekly
column Dichand wrote for ‘Live’ since 2008. The recent
sale could be an extension of Kronen Zeitung, but at the
same time it is sponsoring ‘heute’.
BZ to Moser Holding
Vienna free bi-weekly ‘bz’ (Wiener Bezirkszeitung),
distributed in 23 editions in the Austrian capital, will be
sold to Moser Holding. The Tiroler publisher (Tiroler
Tageszeitung, free daily TT Kompakt) will hold 74.9% of
the shares, the Austrian Post will keep 25.1%.

The bi-weekly will become part of the new free paper
group that Moser Holding is starting together with Graz
publisher Styria. Styria operated free dailies in Graz and
Klagenfurt until 2007. The new combination is aimed to
compete with Austrian market leader Kronen Zeitung.
According to Die Presse other interested parties were
Mediaprint (paid papers Kronen Zeitung and Kurier) and
the publisher of free daily Heute: Eva Dichand.
Schibsted buys all shares in 15min
Lithuanian paid morning paper Lietuvos Rytas, sold its
share of 34% in the Lithuanian free daily 15min to majority
shareholder Schibsted. (Verslo Zinios)
The Norwegians bought their share in the company in
2006. 15min was launched in 2005 and is published in
three editions for Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda with a
total circulation of more than 100,000. Schibsted closed
their paid tabloid L.T. in Lithuania earlier this year. The
publisher also owns several magazines in Lithuania.
Nyhedsavisen investor bankruptcy
Morten Lund, in 2008 first the savior of free Danish daily
Nyhedsavisen, and also the one who saw the paper going
bankrupt in September of that year after new investors
could not be found, is been declared bankrupt himself as
a result of affair.
Nyhedsavisen former chairman Svenn Dam and the
newspaper’s CEO Morten Nissen Nielsen had summoned
him for claims about Dkr 10m (€1.3m), which Morten Lund
had personally guaranteed if Nyhedsavisen was to close
down, “it feel like Superman with his clothes stolen” said
Lund. (MediaWatch)
The rise and fall of Danish free daily Nyhedavisen will be
the subject of a thriller. The book will be published in April.
Metro Denmark starts distribution
Metro Denmark will start ‘Distributionsselskabet Aps’ to
distribute both free dailies MetroXpress and 24timer. The
papers have a total circulation of 450,000 to 500,000
copies. Normally Metro has the policy of outsourcing
distribution. (MediaWatch)
Metro International leaves London
The Metro International headquarters will move from
London’s Fleet Street to birthplace Stockholm before the
end of 2009. Metro International’s London office houses
senior management, sales, editorial, marketing, finance
and IT. The Metro International global sales and the
global editorial department will remain in London.
Approximately 35 employees will be affected by the move.
The estimated costs of this relocation are approximately
€0.5 million and will affect the 2009 accounts according to
the Metro International press release. The annual savings
from the relocation will be approximately €2.0 million
which will be realized in 2010.
TITLES
Spits: narrowcasting & McDonalds
Dutch publisher Basismedia (free daily Spits, part of
Telegraaf Media Group) will be responsible for
narrowcasting on 1300 TV-screens in 155 Amsterdam
trams. Content will consist of news, entertainment and
information on public transport. The publisher is also
providing content for TV’s in public transport in the south
of the Netherlands and for screens in the Amsterdam
subway. (VillaMedia)
FDN Newsletter no. 42 – January 2009 – page 6 of 8
Spits also closed a two-year contract with McDonalds to
distribute their paper in 90 McDonalds’ restaurants. The
paper will also provide narrowcasting for these
restaurants. (Adformatie)
In the past years free daily Metro was distributed in
McDonalds, but as there are 219 McDonalds restaurants
in the Netherlands, the Spits-deal only concerns a
minority of the available places.
Spits will lose 12 jobs in the cost cutting operation TMG is
going through. The group is cutting 500 jobs in total.
Magazines in Sweden and a free daily in the Ukraine
have been sold. Of the 12 jobs at Spits, 5 are in the
editorial department. Forced resignations will be avoided
in most cases.
Dutch free weeklies go crossmedia
After employing Twitter to post recent headlines, Dutch
publisher BDU now added the “.nl” to all titles of the
printed versions of their free and paid weeklies since
January. BDU publishes more than twenty weeklies in the
centre of the country (most of them free) and paid paper
De Barneveldse Krant.
According to Vincent Leenders of Skopamedia.nl, the
company responsible for the online activities of the
papers, traffic to the websites have increased with almost
20% last month.
Fake WEF-20 Minuten
Regular readers of Swiss free daily 20 Minutes Basel,
Bern, Winterthur and Zürich found a rather unusual copy
of their favourite newspaper in the boxes last Wednesday,
January 28.
The headline read “Monster
zeigt wahres gesicht”
(Monster shows real face),
while an ad at the bottom of
the page was titled;
“Capitalism does not have
failures, it is the failure.”
In total 50,000 copies of the
paper were ‘enhanced’ with
a 4-page anti-capitalism
false-cover in by activists
protesting against the
World Economic Forum in
Davos. (Persoenlich)
First free weekly in Ghana
The Gazette, the first free daily distributed in Ghana, will
celebrate its second anniversary in March 2009. The
paper counts 16 pages, and claims a readership of
30,000. The Gazette is published by “The Gazette Ghana
limited”. Fui Gameli Segbedzi is the director of the paper.
Distribution in through hotels, offices, shopping malls,
government’s offices, filling stations, according to the
Press release:
The target market of the Gazette is mainly, but not
restricted to urban dwellers with at least tertiary
education, employed in white and blue collar jobs such
as advertising, marketing, financial services, the civil
service or running their own businesses. This
demographic is an economically powerful one and the
one most given to spending. Also included in the target
demographic are returnees and expatriates living and
working in the country.

Citizen pictures service
Started by a former employee of Metro France, the
Citizenside.com website offer citizens to upload pictures
and video, which in turn can be bought by mainstream
media. When content is used by mainstream media, the
maker gets 75% of the revenues. In France (and abroad)
many mainstream media have already used the service,
among them free dailies Metro and 20 Minutes.
New design for Metro Canada
The website of Metro Canada gas been redesigned by
Petros Petrakis. With the redesign, more Web 2.0
features have also been added to the site according to
Metro English Canada’s Editor in Chief, Dianne Rinehart:
We’ve introduced a blogs section with a number of
national and local bloggers chosen to engage and
delight our online readers. Here visitors can read Steve
Gow giving his latest Hollywood Rant, Jerad Gallinger
showing his Political Stripes, and Victoria Handysides
telling us why she sometimes thinks that Love Bytes.
Handelsblatt News am Abend
Although Germany does not have ‘real’ free dailies, there
are small free ‘exclusive’ appetizers available to first class
travelers in Germany. Handelsblatt News am Abend is the
free A4, 12 to 16 pages, evening paper by business daily
Handelsblatt (Holzbrinck Group).
The paper is available on Lufthansa flights, with different
editions for international (business class) and national
flights (all passengers). A third edition is available for first
class passengers on ICE-trains. Also on the Hapag-Lloyd
AG Cruises by the MS Europa the paper is available.
Daily circulation (on days when the stock exchange is
open) is around 30,000. The paper closes at 14:00 PM
while the first copies are available around 15:30, less than
two hours later. The paper calls itself ‘Die schnellste
Zeitung’ (the fastest newspaper). The paper is printed in
cooperation with OCE on several different places in
Germany but also abroad (in the USA).
Mayor in Montreal Metro
Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay started answering
questions put to him by Métro readers in a new column
titled “Paroles” (words). Readers of Metro are invited send
in questions for the mayor by e-mail. In the first column,
the mayor talked about the new tram that will be
introduced in Montreal, starting in 2013.
Daniel Barbeau, Métro’s publisher:
Metro Boston runs a similar column that has garnered
excellent feedback from its readers, and this inspired
me to do the same here. The Ville de Montréal, its
activities and its projects are chief among the areas of
interest of our readers, who consider themselves
Montrealers through and through.
Weekly movie guide by Baslerstab
Free local daily Baslerstab, published in Basle launched a
free movie guide (Kinowoche) at the end of January.
Kinowoche is published in paperback format and had a
initial circulation of 10,000 copies. Distribution is through
the boxes of Baslerstab while also movie theatres will
stock the new guide. (Persoenlich)
Baslerstab was launched as a free daily in 2000 by the
paid paper Basler Zeitung and is one of the few free
dailies printed in broadsheet format. The paper started as
a weekly in 1923.
FDN Newsletter no. 42 – January 2009 – page 7 of 8
PEOPLE
New editor for Swiss News
Stefan Regez, formerly the chief of the news deparment
of Swiss free daily News (Tamedia), will be the next
editor-in-chief of the paper. Current editor Philippe Pfister
will move to Ringier’s Sunday paper Blick am Sonntag.
(Persoenlich)
Pitkänen Interactive
Sakari Pitkänen, Global Editor-in-Chief of Metro
International, has been appointed Vice President of Metro
Interactive, Metro International’s global online division.
Sakari worked for Metro International since 1995. Prior to
taking on the role of Metro International’s Global Editor-in-
Chief in 2006, Sakari was the Editor-in-Chief of Metro
Sweden since 1997.
For an interim period, Sakari will be overlapping the
positions as Global Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of
Metro Interactive. (Metro International)
Erik Mitteregger new Metro director
The members of the Nomination Committee of Metro
International S.A. (’Metro’), who represents more than
50% of the votes in Metro, will propose the election of Erik
Mitteregger as a non-executive Director of Metro at the
2009 Annual General Meeting of shareholders.
Erik Mitteregger, born 1960, is a member of the board of
Investment AB Kinnevik since 2004, and is also a
member of the boards of Firefly AB and Wise Group AB.
Erik has been Head of Equity Research and member of
the Management Board at Alfred Berg Fondkommission
1989-1995. He has also been founding partner and fund
manager at Brummer & Partners Kapitalförvaltning AB
1995-2002. (Metro International)
JM Morandini to Direct Soir
French media expert Jean-Marc Morandini started a
media column for French free evening paper Direct Soir.
Morandini runs a well-read blog on French media as well.
Direct Soir is part of the Bolloré Media group, together
with free morning papers Direct Matin (Paris), Direct
Nantes and Direct Nice.
LEGISLATION
State aid for Danish free dailies
Free papers 24timer and metroXpress (both majority
owned by Metro International) will next year receive 17.2
million DKK (2.3 million Euro) each in state aid for
distribution. The 17.2m DKK is the maximum a paper can
get. Also Børsen, B.T., Berlingske Tidende,
Erhvervsbladet, Jyllands-Posten and Politiken get that
amount. Kristeligt Dagblad and Information even do get
8m DKK extra.
In the last three months, both papers realized to get below
the limit of 50 percent of advertising in their papers, which
was needed to apply for state aid. This could be the
reason that Metro hasn’t closed down 24timer yet.
Berlingske Media’s free daily Urban was unaware of the
fact that they could get the support - and as they didn’t
meet the deadline to apply for the financial support, they
will not receive any state aid in 2009. As the aid is only for
subscription and/or delivery, both papers apparently
showed that they deliver papers to companies, which may
count as subscription.

MetroXpress and 24Timer will use the money to reestablish
the subscription network that was cancelled in
2006. In that year the subsidy for Post Danmark for
distribution of newspapers was withdrawn by the Danish
Government.
Even foreign newspapers (USA Today, Frankfurter
Algemeine, Die Welt) receive Danish state aid.
The subsidy will enable Metroxpress to expand its
distribution network. Metroxpress has formed a subsidiary
(Distributionskompagniet ApS) to manage its distribution.
Distributionskompagniet will also provide services for third
parties. (Metro International)
Danish newspapers fear tax reform
Circulation of free newspapers in Denmark dropped from
2 million in 2006 to 600,000 now. Only three titles,
connected to the two main publishers, remain. But Danish
publishers are still far from happy.
The government is threatening to end the zero-VAT tax
for newspapers. In total Danish newspapers receive
€175m in state support and subsidies; the zero VAT is by
far the largest part of that. Normal Danish VAT is 25%.
(MediaWatch).
Except from that, Danish papers are the most expensive
in Europe, while there are also many direct subsidies.
According to the publishers in MediaWatch, very soon
papers will have to close down when the exemption is
ended. JP/Politiken fears that it will have a negative
impact on democracy.
French TV-ad ban
From this week on, French public TV will have no
advertising in prime time. President Sarkozy recently had
a new bill accepted whereby advertising on public TV is
abolished after 20.00; in two years all advertising will have
disappeared from the public channels.
Journalists at the public TV stations, mainly France2,
have protested against the move, as they fear even more
direct political influence and less income. So far Sarkozy
has promised to make up for the missing income in the
next two years. The fear of political influence is not far
fetched as this is a main ingredient in French media.
Main profiteers from the new rule are the commercial
broadcasters TF1 and Direct8 - who have organized a
lobby for the new law. Indirect also free dailies will profit
from the deal, TF1 is the 34.5% owner of Metro France
while Direct Matin and Direct Soir are owned by Direct8owner
Vincent Bolloré, a close friend of Sarkozy.
Newspapers in France will launch a campaign to get
some of the advertisers move to newspapers, although
the bulk of advertising money will end up with the
commercial channels.
Newspaper tax in Lithuania
From January on, VAT on newspaper sales in Lithuania
went from 5 to 19%. Not very good news for this troubled
medium. Most newspapers in Lithuania, however, have
increased the cover price with more than the increased
VAT-rise, Lietuvos žinios even with 50%. (Opinija)
An increased cover price might affect the position of free
paper ‘15min’, as many papers are sold by single copy.
Total circulation of paid papers in Lithuania has
decreased sharply in the last decade. Ten years ago it
was around 2.5 million. In 2007 it was just over 500,000.
FDN Newsletter no. 42 – January 2009 – page 8 of 8
BerneBoxes
The city council of the Swiss town of Berne has allowed
free papers in the city to place boxes until the end of
2009. Because the city council is still not satisfied with the
way the papers have solved the litter problem the permit
is only for one year. Every paper can have a maximum of
80 boxes, the cost is ChF 500 (€335) per year.
There are three morning papers in Switzerland: 20
Minuten, .ch and News, and one evening paper: Blick am
Abend. Apart from that also free business daily CASH is
distributed in business centres. 20 Minuten has a total of
3800 boxes in Switzerland (also in the French speaking
part), News 3000 boxes, Blick am Abend 800 boxes and
.ch 2000. (Persoenlich / Klein Report / Blick am Abend)
RESEARCH
New Ideas article on paid & free
In the latest edition (January/February) of Ideas, the
magazine of the International Newsmedia Marketing
Association, I published an article on how free and paid
papers work together. Some only combine back office
services, other employ joint advertising or share content.
In the article a dozen people from papers all around the
world are interviewed about their strategies to increase
readership and cuts costs by combining free and paid
newspapers.
The Scottsdale presentation for the INMA Summit on
Audience Development in Scottsdale is posted on
www.slideshare.com.
EVENTS
Nijmegen: February 12/13
Organized by the University of Nijmegen, the “24 hours of
communication science” (Etmaal van de
Communicatiewetenschap) will be organized on 12 and
13 February. I will present a paper on user generated
content on Dutch media websites.
Athens: May 6-9
I will speak at the New Media & Information conference in
Athens about strategies of publishers to employ free and
paid newspapers at the same time to target audiences.
Barcelona: May 29
Om May 29 I will attend the conference on “Multimedia
Content” organized by the Catalan Space of Culture and
Communication (ESCACC).
Utrecht: June 11/12
In June I will give a talk at the “CrossMedia Impact”
conference in Utrecht, organized by the School of
Journalism.
Questions & suggestions: piet.bakker@uva.nl
web: www.newspaperinnovation.com