Print advertising revenues have been affected by digital channels, not least because readers can gain immediate access to online information. This will only gather momentum as social media and location-based media spreads and, more importantly, converge.
Different publishers are addressing this in different ways – from putting journalism behind paywalls, through maintaining content funding by extending their brands and geographies, to launching full digital titles. This level of enterprise is characteristic of a medium which has thrived and endured for so long, but it remains to be seen which of these approaches will pay off best.
National titles remain at the forefront of setting the news agenda, and with increasing online audiences; they arguably have more influence than ever before. However, there are fundamental concerns over the funding of quality journalism. Given declining circulation figures, publishers seek to optimise revenue, identifying a suitable balance between cover prices and ad revenue, whilst formulating strategies for the tablet age.
ISBA members can find out more details
here.
News Corp, current owners of 39% of Sky, proposed a buyout of the entire company in June 2010. However, following pressure from various groups, including a significant alliance of media groups, the case was referred to Ofcom in order to assess whether the deal would adversely affect media plurality.
The merger attracted widespread public and political opposition, with concerns that competition would be restricted by fostering cross selling.
In the wake of phone hacking allegations at News of the World, News Corporation pulled out of the bid, stating that it "no longer intends to make an offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Sky not already owned by it”. Despite their belief that the proposed acquisition would benefit both companies, News Corporation stated that “it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate”
ISBA members can find out more details here.
News International has been working on a ‘new basis for trading their press space’. The new proposition is called ‘Delivering Scarcity’.
The publisher seeks to scrap the long-standing method of trading advertising space, cost-per-single-column-centimetre (SCC), which it and other national newspapers currently use to negotiate rates with media agencies.
News International believe the SCC model does not reflect audience delivery and distorts the market, and instead, wants to move to a cost per thousand (CPT)-based model.
ISBA members can find out more details here.
Co-owned by all major industry stakeholders, ABC independently verifies and reports on media performance, providing a major trading currency for media buyers and owners across print, events, digital and evolving platforms.
Recent ABC board meetings have focussed on publishers’ strong desire to publish combined print and digital data. Whilst readily accepting that one day henceforth most consumption will be through digital means, ISBA and the IPA are nevertheless resisting this development vigorously on the basis that print and digital are as yet quite different media consumption, and therefore advertising consumption, experiences. ISBA members endorsed this position, suggesting they are highly unlikely to use a combined model, which has no meaning as figures will be inflated.
Two national newspaper publishers, Express and Independent newspapers, continue to levy charges for handling colour advertisements submitted in digital file format.
These stances contrast with those taken by all other publishers following a lengthy and successful campaign by ISBA between 1997 and 2006. ISBA continues to press the matter, writing to both publishers, inviting them to review their practices and requesting that they cease charging henceforth.
Preceding the 2010 Wimbledon tennis tournament, national newspapers in the UK joined together to provide brands with a collective advertising package, tested around the Wimbledon event that saw them sell ads on their own and rivals’ titles for the first time.
The package guaranteed brands positioning alongside Wimbledon editorial across a broad reach of titles, from tabloid to broadsheet. The Sun, Daily Mail, The Independent, The Guardian, Daily Mirror, The Times, Daily Telegraph and all their sister and Sunday titles were involved.
The test package, conceived by the Newspaper Marketing Agency, was developed at a time when print ad revenues continue to decline across the newspaper sector.