WORLD PRESS TRENDS - World Association of Newspapers

Commentary – Verband Österreichischer Zeitungen (VÖZ – Austrian Newspaper Association)
The economy. 2002 did not bring the economic recovery so
many were waiting for, but was instead characterised by low
growth: GDP grew only 0.9%, unemployment was 4.1% and
inflation was 1.8%. The advertising market developed equally
modestly. The decline that started in September 2001 continued
in 2002; it has temporarily put an end to the flourishing
development of the last twenty years. The Austrian economy
invested Euro 2.0 billion in traditional advertising in 2002. This
was Euro 34.6 million, or 1.7%, less than in 2001. The downturn
seems particularly severe after the boom years of 1999 and 2000,
when the ad market enjoyed respective growth rates of 15%
and 9%. These figures include advertising in daily newspapers,
weekly papers, magazines, trade journals, television, radio,
outdoor and brochures; they are measured at ratecard prices
and exclude discounts and taxes. Note that the advertising
expenditure figures at the end of this entry do not include
brochures.
The same trend is also evident in the advertising market’s share
of gross domestic product. Ad expenditure accounted for only
0.94% of GDP in 2002, compared with 0.98% in the two
preceding years (again, at ratecard prices and including
brochures). Per capita advertising expenditure declined from a
peak of Euro 232 in 2000 to Euro 228 in 2002.
Print clearly remained the strongest advertising medium in 2002,
attracting Euro 1.11 billion in ad expenditure. Nevertheless,
print had a difficult year, losing almost Euro 35 million, or 3%,
of the previous year’s ad expenditure. Print accounted for 55.4%
of the advertising market in 2002 – a drop of 0.7 percentage
points over 2001, thus eliminating the gains in market share it
won in the boom year of 2000. Daily newspapers and their
supplements are traditionally the strongest components of print
advertising, but they suffered the biggest decline in 2002. Daily
newspapers earned advertising revenues of Euro 537 million –
5.9% less than in 2001 – and accounted for 26.7% of the
advertising market. In 2002, daily newspapers published 32,500
pages of advertising as compared with almost 36,000 in the
preceding year.
As in 2001, capital goods remained the leading advertising
sector, despite cutting their advertising expenditure by almost
7%. With budgets of Euro 663 million, capital goods still account
for almost one-third of the Austrian advertising market. They
are followed by brand name articles, with advertising
expenditure of Euro 433 million and then by the services sector,
trade, media and others. (All ad expenditure data is from Media
Focus Research).
AUSTRIA
television (ORF) in keeping with its character as a public
institution. Above all, the Association has demanded immediate
abolition of the 5% tax on advertising, as well as equal
opportunities for newspaper delivery: due to its monopoly
position, only the completely state-owned postal service has
access to letterboxes in apartment houses and large apartment
blocks at present. In addition, the Association confirmed its
commitment to press subsidies as an indispensable instrument
for maintaining and assuring newspaper diversity. Without
press subsidies, one-third of the daily newspapers would
currently face the threat of closure.
Although the coalition’s media policy projects are worded fairly
vaguely in the new government programme, they have taken
into account some of the Association’s demands, particularly
the demands to abolish the tax on advertising, implement the
EU Directive on copyright, and establish clear rules for
advertising and sponsoring in public and private broadcasting.
The government is preparing to evaluate press subsidies, with
a focus on promoting quality and maintaining regional diversity.
In 2002, 16 daily newspapers received a total of Euro 3.81 million
in press subsidies from Federal funds, six daily newspapers with
lower advertising volumes additionally received special press
subsidies totalling Euro 7.59 million, and 45 weekly papers
received a total of Euro 1.99 million.
Publishing houses continued their efforts to reduce costs in 2002
as the basic economic conditions remained difficult. They paid
particular attention to reducing operating costs, spending less
on diversification, exploring the potential for cooperation, and
looking after their core brands. Circulation and readership
numbers remained generally stable.
Distribution is important. Less than 20% of the 1.3 million
newspapers delivered to subscribers every day are now
delivered by the postal service. Private door-to-door delivery
has been successively increased in recent years to boost
efficiency and customer-friendliness, and more publishers are
forming delivery partnerships, which offer clear efficiency
savings. To develop much further, though, private delivery
services need access to indoor letterboxes in apartment blocks,
which, as we noted previously, are barred to them at the
moment. In addition to the distribution companies and
partnerships set up by the publishing houses, Styria Medien
and the TNT Post Group have set up a company called redmail
Logistik & Zustellservice GmbH, which currently employs 3,900
delivery staff.
Media policy. New developments in media policy were delayed
when the Austrian government stepped down in September
2002 and the Nationalrat (parliament) was dissolved
prematurely. This delayed the implementation of the EU
Directive on copyright, and the government’s planned reform
of state press subsidies. Following the parliamentary elections
on 24 November 2002, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and
the Austrian Free Democratic Party (FPÖ) finally established a
coalition government in early February 2003.
During the coalition negotiations in January 2003, the Austrian
Newspaper Association (VÖZ) presented a catalogue of
demands concerning future media policy. The objective behind
these demands was to safeguard Austria as location for media,
ensure up-to-date regulation of competition, expand freedom
of information and regulate advertising on Austrian public
Six daily newspapers and three large online portals have set up
a ‘supraregional’ portal called www.derMarkt.at as a common
platform for online and print classified advertising. The portal
has been online since August 2002 and covers three subject
headings: jobs, property, and motor vehicles.
Three publishing houses published their daily newspaper titles
as electronic newspapers last year.
Other activities. In autumn of 2002, the Association launched
a major joint campaign for print advertising with the motto ‘Print
bringt’s’ (‘Print does its job). The campaign was designed to
present the entire spectrum of newspaper advertising both
attractively and emotionally under 15 subjects, and aimed not
just to defend print’s share of the advertising market but to
increase it. This campaign continues in 2003.
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