MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

Ilbo (21.2 percent), DongA Ilbo (19.1 percent), Hankyoreh (3.9 percent), Maeil BusinessNewspaper (3.7 percent), and Busan Ilbo (3.4 percent), the only local newspaper on the list.The survey was conducted on 10,247 adults nationwide by phone from Nov. 22 until Dec. 3last year by Korea Gallup at the behest of the committee. The confidence level was 95 percentand margin of error 3.1 percent. This is the first time a government agency has surveyednewspaper subscription rates.http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200603/200603150028.html; March 15, 2006Audit Bureaux of Circulation / StandardsMiddle EastThe London-based global media audit firm Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC UK)announced to newspapers through a letter dated 30 March that would stop running audits inthe Gulf region for lack of adequate resources to conduct direct auditing, Gulf News reported.In a letter to newspapers, ABC UK argued that there was an increasing number ofpublications being launched and a greater demand for audits, and that the company has tofocus its main services in the UK market. ABC UK said the Gulf market should control itsowns regulations and adopt its own standards, Gulf News reported on 4 April. “TheInternational Federation of ABCs is willing to assist the Gulf countries in establishing theirown auditing bureau,” the non-profit body said in a statement. The decision comes two weeksafter Gulf News announced they had applied for audits with both ABC and BPA Worldwidein an attempt to offer “end-to-end transparency.” The paper challenged other Englishspeakingpublications in UAE to take steps in the same direction. Gulf News called forcomprehensive “end-to-end” audits, including details of newsprint imports and consumption,circulation numbers and circulation revenue. These fully transparent audits should check andconfirm newspapers' claims of circulation in neighboring countries, said the newspaper. In1993 Gulf News dropped from ABC after three years of running audits while questioning thecredibility of circulation claims by newspapers using ABC figures. The ABC withdrawalfrom the Gulf “confirms our belief that the previous audits offered by ABC could not stand upto intensive scrutiny,” said Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Managing Director of Al Nisr Group,publishers of Gulf News. Among the five English-language dailies in the UAE, just two –Emirates Today and Gulf Today – have not yet applied or undertaken an audit while none ofthe seven Arab-speaking have done so. APN Newsletter No 13/2006, April 11, 2006Newspaper WarsHong KongThe seven-month Chinese-language newspaper price war will come to an end this weekendwhen Oriental Press Group's the Sun raises its cover price to $4. The paper blamed the 33 percent price rise on a surge in the cost of newsprint and oil. In a front-page notice announcingthe increase, the paper said it was mainly due to "the surge in the oil price which is expectedto be sustained for a long time. The operating costs of the newspaper such as newsprint andink are also under pressure". Oriental Press' share price was not affected yesterday, closingunchanged at $1.69 but Apple Daily publisher Next Media was up 6.1 per cent at $4.35. HongKong Economic Times Group, the publisher of financial daily Hong Kong Economic Times,rose 3.16 per cent to $2.45. The Sun sparked the price war among Chinese-languagenewspapers in October last year when it cut its cover price from $6 to $3 to celebrate thedaily's seventh anniversary. The price-cut strategy helped propel the Sun to the No2 spotahead of Apple Daily and claimed an average daily circulation between 300,000 and 400,000copies. Oriental Daily News is the best seller with more than 400,000 copies daily. Both49