WORLD PRESS TRENDS - World Association of Newspapers

UKRAINE
Commentary – Mikhail Veisberg, President of the Ukrainian Newspaper Publishers Association (extracts from thesis: Non-political view on
the development of newspaper publishing industry)
Generally, all over Ukraine (according to Ukraine Media
Monitoring), TV’s share of advertising is absurdly high. It
amounted to 75% in 2002, with newspapers taking 11%, outdoor
advertising 10%, and radio 4%. For the last few years there has
been a general increase in advertising across all media, but TV’s
share has been growing faster, and at the expense of newspapers
and outdoor advertising. It is due to the active development of
so-called multiregional channels - Novyi, ICTV, STB – and the
relatively low price for advertising on TV. In fact, the regional
TV studios accounted for only US$26 million of the total US$636
million generated by TV in 2002.
In Ukraine, national and regional newspapers are clearly
distinguishable. The former are more dependent on politics and
actively compete with each other and the regional press. The
latter are less dependent on politics and easily compete with
the central press in their regions (local news, increased
professionalism and local patriotism of the readers contribute
to this).
It’s not easy to estimate the number of industry players, as
market statistics are not reliable. According to the State
Committee on Information, there are 16,000 registered
publications, of which 6,700 are national and 9,300 regional.
The committee is unable to trace how many of them are actually
published, however. There are also 900 communal property
newspapers, 300 state-owned and 400 official party newspapers.
The Ukrainian Post Office’s subscription catalogues include
3,640 publications; subscription for the nationwide press slightly
exceeds subscription for regional publications. According to the
data of the Ukraine Press Monitoring company there are more
than 4,000 publications, including 2,600 newspapers and 1,400
magazines.
In 2002 research by UNPA identified that:
- people read newspapers often (55% - several times a week,
88% - at least once a week)
- newspapers are read mostly at home and for almost 60 minutes
- newspaper readers seek news (75%) and useful information
(72%)
- the main topics the reader is interested in are local news
(90%), national news and TV programme listings (88%),
health (87%), foreign news and weather (86%)
- the readers actively use advertising materials, paying most
attention to the ads connected with training and jobs, medical
care, food and drinks
- what is most important is that the readers did not see any
drawbacks in the newspapers
- the readers are not rich, do not plan substantial purchases
and want the newspapers to become cheaper.
POPULATION
Urban population by age and sex
All individuals Male Female
000 % 000 % 000 %
12-15 1,295 8 658 8 637 7
16-19 1,447 8 719 9 727 8
20-29 3,485 20 1,762 22 1,723 19
30-39 3,345 19 1,629 20 1,716 19
40-54 4,967 29 2,266 28 2,701 30
55-65 2,656 15 1,147 14 1,510 17
Total 17,196 100 8,181 100 9,014 100
Source: Taylor Nelson Sofres
Households
Households
000 %
1 person 937 5
2 people 3,313 19
3 people 5,820 34
4 people 4,769 28
5 people 1,626 9
6 or more people 681 4
Unknown 51 0
17,196 96
without children 11,801 69
with children 5,395 31
with children aged 7-11 2,420 14
with children aged 4-6 1,009 6
with children aged 2-3 736 4
with children 1 year old 300 2
with children under 1 year 298 2
Total 17,196 100
Source: Taylor Nelson Sofres 22,591
Adult population by financial status
Adults Male Female
000 % 000 % 000 %
AB 459 3 241 3 218 3
C 4,179 26 2,134 28 2,045 24
D 6,389 40 3,015 40 3,374 40
E 3,871 24 1,579 21 2,292 27
E 1,003 6 554 7 448 5
Total 15,900 100 7,523 100 8,377 100
Source: Taylor Nelson Sofres
A= Prosperous
B= Well-to-do
C= Moderate income
D= Poor
E= No answer
Housewives (co-habiting persons)
Housewives
000 %
16-19 7 1
20-29 108 22
30-39 205 41
40-54 178 36
55-65 2 0.5
Total 500 100
Source: Taylor Nelson Sofres
WORLD ASSOCIATION OF NEWSPAPERS - WORLD PRESS TRENDS 2003 293