WORLD PRESS TRENDS - World Association of Newspapers

GERMANY
ADVERTISING EXPENDITURE & ECONOMIC DATA
Main economic indicators 1995-2001
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
1 US$= 1.09 Euro at 2001 rate
Gross Domestic Product (Euro billion)
at current prices 1,801 1,833 1,875 1,935 1,974 2,026 2,063
% change 3.8 1.8 2.2 3.2 2.0 2.6 1.9
at 2001 prices 1,974 1,982 1,989 2,034 2,063 2,075 2,063
% change 4.5 0.4 0.4 2.3 1.4 0.6 -0.6
Gross Domestic Product per capita (Euro 000)
at current prices 22.1 22.4 22.8 23.6 24.1 24.6 25.0
at 2001 prices 24.2 24.2 24.2 24.8 25.1 25.2 25.0
Population
Millions 81.7 81.9 82.1 82.0 82.1 82.2 82.4
Consumer Price Index
2001=100 91.2 92.5 94.3 95.1 95.7 97.6 100.0
% change 1.7 1.4 1.9 0.9 0.6 2.0 2.4
Ad.spend as a % of GDP
0.88 0.88 0.89 0.91 0.94 0.98 0.91
Advertising Expenditure Growth (%)
at current prices 5.7 1.5 3.7 4.9 5.4 7.6 -5.5
at 2001 prices 3.9 0.1 1.7 4.0 4.8 5.5 -7.7
Source: IFS, ZenithOptimedia
Advertising expenditure
(Euro millions, in current prices)
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Newspapers 7,332 7,340 7,583 7,972 8,143 8,694 7,998 7,711 7,614 7,867 8,247
Magazines 4,080 4,001 4,077 4,194 4,423 4,700 4,536 4,211 4,142 4,272 4,514
Television 3,243 3,526 3,803 4,042 4,317 4,705 4,552
Radio 577 590 601 605 691 733 670
Cinema 151 153 156 166 172 175 170
Outdoor 512 531 512 563 682 746 750
Internet - - - 14 77 153 135
Total 15,895 16,141 16,733 17,555 18,506 19,907 18,811 18,042 17,878 18,506 19,524
Source: 1995-2001 ZAW, 2002-2005 ZenithOptimedia
Notes: Excludes agency commission (of 15%) and production costs, includes classified advertising, after discounts, magazines
include directories and trade titles, newspapers include dailies, weeklies, Sundays and supplements.
Research
Circulation is audited by: Informationsgemeinschaft zur
Feststellung der Verbreitung von Werbeträgern e.V. (IVW)
Readership is measured by: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Media-Analyse
e.V. (AG.MA), Media-Micro-Census GmbH
Taxes
VAT on: sales 7% advertising 16%
newsprint 16% plant 16%
composition 16% (standard VAT rate 16%)
The tax rate on profits for newspapers is 53%.
Ownership
Are there any restrictions on ownership of publishing houses, or the
registration of shares in newspaper-publishing companies General
ownership regulations apply to all businesses; there are no
specific provisions for the press.
Is there any law prohibiting or restricting foreign companies or
individuals from owning shares or majority stakes in domestic daily
newspapers No
Is there a law or rule making it possible to determine who actually
owns a publishing company, in order to guarantee financial
transparency and prevent silent partnerships Newspapers are
subject to the same transparency regulations as all other
businesses.
Is there an antitrust law limiting concentration in the daily press
There are general competition laws to prevent excessive
concentration. These laws have always had a strong influence
on the development of the German press, and more so since the
introduction in 1976 of specific controls on press mergers.
The competition laws regulate, among other things,
discrimination and the right to impose prices on press products,
and enable associations to draw up competition regulations for
a specific sector and have them recorded in a register kept by
the Federal Office of Monopoly Control.
It should be noted that the anti-monopoly laws preclude all
agreements between newspaper publishers and magazine
publishers, as well as those with direct competitors.
There is normally no restriction on mergers where combined
turnover is below or equal to Euro 256 million. There are
however several tests for whether press mergers qualify for
regulation, and they are much more stringent. One is whether
the new company’s turnover is above Euro 13 million, but the
preferred test is to look at copies sold. The ceiling for dailies is
40,000 copies, which means that in effect the regulatory trigger
for press is actually Euro 17 million. Companies with combined
profits of Euro 5 million or less are exempted, but for press this
is qualified by various revenue limits dependent on the type of
periodical in question.
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WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS - WORLD PRESS TRENDS 2003