MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

etween 25 and 50, the middle class, and those with higher income who spend a fair amountof leisure time at home. “Even businessmen want to read something straightforward whenthey come home; [something] short, bringing condensed and consistent information,” saidHamacek, who until April 2005 was the CFO of the Czech unit of Swiss publisher Ringier,which runs the tabloid Blesk, the daily newspaper with the largest circulation. Despitecutthroat competition on a newspaper market where 11 dailies fight for readership, Kuryrfound its niche, they claim. Unlike the other free dailies, which are distributed in the street,Kuryr is an afternoon publication distributed to mailboxes. The newspaper’s initial print run is300,000, which is the optimum amount to cover Prague, according to Hamacek. “Dependingon the success of the newspaper in Prague, we hope to expand to the other regions within thenext seven years,” he said. Hamacek said that the initiators of the newspaper worked on theproject for almost a year. Hamacek was brought in to launch the newspaper under aconsultancy agreement via his own company, JH Finance. So far, the newspaper concludedsome unexpectedly fat ad contracts with companies such as majority state-owned powerutility CEZ. “We were lucky with CEZ,” Hamacek said, explaining that the energy operatorhad some hefty cash available for ads promoting their partnership with the basketball FinalFour European league tournament that took place in Prague from April 28-30. “Our goal wasto lure the greater public, and mostly those people who don’t buy daily media, to come watchthe event,” said CEZ spokeswoman Eva Nováková. The company decided to advertise inKuryr because the newspaper was new on the market and “naturally it stirred larger interest,”she added. Kuryr hopes to start making a regular profit within 16–18 months, according toHamacek. He forecasts hard times for traditional print media. In his opinion, they have tobecome “more reader-friendly” as they are “too thick, and difficult to read,” he said. “Look at,for example, Mladá fronta Dnes. You have to spend half an hour searching for theinformation you need. The newspapers have to offer enough information in a good shape, ona reasonable amount of paper.” Hamacek said he thinks that the traditional media will survive,“but they’ll have to adapt to the faster life.” http://www.cbw.cz/phprs/2006052217.html; May22, 2006Czech RepublicOn January 9, two editions of Metro were launched in the Czech Republic, covering one thirdof the country. A further expansion (South Moravia & West Bohemia) is anticipated. Theseeditions were delayed several times. The Moravia and Bohemia editions (150,000 circulation)differ from the Prague edition (circulation 200,000). 24 Hodin is published in Prague sinceNovember (by Ringier) while Mafra (Dnes) is also thinking about launching a free paper oftheir own. Czech Business Weekly; FDN Newsletter No. 14, February 2006DenmarkThe Icelandic company Dagsbrún, the parent company of of 365 Media which publishesamong other things Fréttabladid, will publish a paper in Denmark this fall. Planning is wellunderway, the paper will be distributed for free into all homes in Denmark similar to thedistribution of Fréttabladid in Iceland. In December, it was reported that Dagsbrún wasconsidering purchasing Orkla Media, a subsidiary of the Norwegian conglomerate Orklawhich publishes the Danish newspapers BT, Urban and Berlingske Tidende but there has beenno additional news on that front.http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16567&ew_0_a_id=185170;February 16, 200634