MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

Qassim, General Manager of the newspaper. But how did a new daily manage to obtain such ashare of subscriptions in a country where newsstands are the preferred method to buynewspapers? Attracting potential subscribers with appealing offers and catering forsubscribers' needs are two of the keys. Al Ghad launched a full-scale multi media teasercampaign before it hit newsstands, and offered complimentary one-month subscriptionsacross the kingdom to introduce the newspaper to readers. Al Ghad took advantage of anotherpublication of the group, Al Waseet, to reach the biggest number of households in Amman. AlWaseet is a free advertising weekly-distributed door to door in within the capital. Al Ghadused its database to reach potential subscribers. After the first month, the daily started atelemarketing campaign offering annual subscriptions for JOD 30 (USD 42). “In the firstthree months we registered 6,000 subscribers and after a year we had achieved 21,000,something surprising in a country were the rest of the dailies' subscribers combined togetherbarely make up 8,000” says Qassim. The price was a main reason for that success. Itrepresents almost a 60% reduction compared to a daily purchase during a year. Othernewspapers charge JOD 75. “If the reader is paying in advance we have to add value tohis/her investment,” he says. A prize drawing of a luxury car every month for three monthsreinforced the telemarketing campaign. The paper decided to offer three luxury prizes ratherthan a big quantity of small tokens. But, to keep attracting mass audience to the newspaper,Al Ghad bought air space in a local TV station and broadcasted a quiz show directly related tothe content of the newspaper for ten months. ‘Ainak Ala Al Ghad’ (keep your eye on AlGhad) offered prizes to those who answered correctly to questions about the newspapercontent. To retain subscribers, Al Ghad relied on a fundamental strategy: building up theirloyalty. For its first anniversary, the paper offered them a book by one of its more popularcolumnists and a travel life insurance. Al Ghad has over 35,000 subscribers and the numberkeeps increasing by about 1,500 each month. Copy sales and renting its printing facilities forcommercial catalogues and newsletters represents 40% of the paper’s total revenue.Advertising represents the other 60% and it is increasing, says Qassim. “You have toadvertise in Al Ghad because of subscriptions. This is a confirmed clientele base everyday.”Al Ghad is a 60-page broadsheet. It has 40 full-color pages. It is printed in a high quality 52grams web white paper with brightness of 8%. “The quality of the paper and the layout is oneof the main reasons of our success for both the reader and advertiser,” says Qassim. The dailyhas its own building with printing facilities and created its own distribution network.Although the biggest share of subscribers is in Amman, the paper reaches all the major citiesin the Kingdom. The paper has a staff of 285 of which about a hundred in the editorial. Theaverage age of the employees is under 26. Owned by four Jordanian shareholders, Al Ghad isabout to break even, says Qassim. “This is an outstanding result for a newspaper that has beenin the market for a year and a half.” http://www.arabpressnetwork.org/articles.php?id=578New ZealandThe New Zealand Herald has maintained its position as the country's biggest selling dailypaper in the latest ABC circulation figures. In the six months to March 31 the Herald sold anaverage of 200,309 copies a day - more than the next two biggest papers put together. Theresult is down slightly from 201,254 at the last audit to September last year and 204,549 ayear ago. The Herald on Sunday edged up by 2117 papers from six months ago to acirculation of 93,193. The result 12 months ago was 101,355 which included special offersduring the period of the paper's launch. The Weekend Herald is not separately audited butremains New Zealand's largest single paper both in sales and readership. In the second half oflast year, Nielsen Media Research reported 532,000 weekend newspaper readers in Aucklandaged 15 and over and of those, 85 per cent read the Weekend Herald and Herald on Sunday.3