MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

Bruce said the 32-page paper would target the politically and financially aware readers of thedaily version, and would be modelled on Pearson's Financial Times with a news and reviewsection. "We already have an established market for our journalism during the week and wewant to follow our readers home," Business Day Editor Peter Bruce told Reuters, addingBusiness Day tended to be read at the office. Independent News, South Africa's biggestnewspaper group, prints a Sunday broadsheet aimed at the top end of the market, andJohncom prints the bigger selling Sunday Times. But on Saturday only the Independent'spopulist Saturday Star and Caxton's Citizen are published. The paper will feature twosections, with the first half covering news and a run-down of Friday's markets, and a secondsection focused on leisure, TV, analysis and personal finance. BDFM hopes The Weekendercirculation will reach around 30,000 over the next few years and Bruce said the paper willcost 9.80 rand (US$1.58). South Africa's tabloid market has exploded in recent years aspublishers tailor papers to the sprawling townships, where increased affluence and literacy areboosting sales. But Nigeria's ThisDay launched a highbrow broadsheet in South Africa inOctober 2003 which was meant to exploit a gap in the market. It shut down a year later afterbig losses. Bruce said The Weekender would fare better since costs were much lower, withBusiness Day staff providing much of the content and only 8 new journalists being hired. Itwould cost about 25 million rand to launch the paper, he added. Reuters; February 13, 2006Special Supplements / Sections / Editions / Titles /Websites; Tailored / Localised / RegionalCongoThe state-owned La Nouvelle Republique newspaper in Congo has launched a fortnightlysports edition following readers’ demands. The decision to launch La Nouvelle RepubliqueSportive was the result of a readership survey that showed a significant interest in havingmore extensive sports coverage. After the disappearance of Le Stade, the only sportspublication in the country, young readers in particular considered the single pageBrazzaville’s newspapers generally devoted to sport to be insufficient. The 12-pagenewspaper has a print run of 1,000 copies and is distributed in the capital city of Brazzavilleand neighboring regions. The RAP 21 Newsletter No 6/2006, April 28, 2006GeorgiaThree thousand copies of the new Azeri-language ‘The Georgian Times’ have been printed,said Malkhaz Gulashvili, President of the media holding The Georgian Times. With theexception of Tbilisi, the newspaper will be distributed in Kvemo Kartli region where a largenumber of Azerbaijanis live. Gulashvili says ‘The Georgian Times’ in Azeri will bedistributed in Azerbaijan as well. The publisher stated that the initiative of publishing anAzeri version of the paper came from Azerbaijanis. "If the Armenians living in Georgiaexpress the wish to have an Armenian version of our newspaper, we will publish that too,"Gulashvili said. Until now, ‘The Georgian Times’ was published in three languages: Georgian(30,000 copies), English (5,000) and Russian (8,000). Another Azeri-language newspaper inGeorgia, the four-page ‘Gurjistan’ has a small circulation. About 400,000 Azerbaijanis and300,000 Armenians live in Georgia. http://media.ge/eng/news_detailed.php?id_numb=517Morocco – Middle EastMorocco’s leading publishing group will invest for the first time in the Gulf. Moroccan dailyLe Matin will have a Gulf edition, the newspaper announced. Othman al-Omeir, the Saudipresident of publishing group Maroc Soir, has reportedly met the king of Bahrain Hamad al-30