A Free Future? Dr Piet Bakker University of Amsterdam

Free dailies 2006  Spain: 4 national, 20 local (54% circulation)  Denmark: 5 (64% circulation)  Prague, London, Paris: 4 titles  Switzerland, Italy, Athens, Stockholm: 3 title

Europe % circulation + 30 new titles + 80 editions > 24 million circulation > 20% of total circulation

Paid circulation Europe

Paid & Free Europe

The secret of their ‘succes’  Newspaper advertsing valued –Dropping market share of paid papers –Younger readers harder to reach –Internet & tv fragmented  Economic recovery –Rising advertising budgets  Free no longer suspect –Quality content –Options for advertisers

Myths: content & readers  Readership is the result of distribution, not of content  Majority of readers of an average free daily don’t belong to targeted ABC1 group

Trends in distribution I.Afternoon –Switzerland, France, Spain, Denmark II.Non public transport –Hawkers, kiosks, restaurants, racks III.Door-to-door –Iceland, US, Denmark, Czech Rep. IV.Saturday –Denmark, Iceland V.Mixed paid / free models –UK, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland

Trends in content I.Local II.Sport (Italy, Spain, France) III.Ethnic (US) IV.Bussines (UK, Germany, Switzerland) V.Political (Spain, Denmark, Iceland)

Non-dailies  Weeklies, Bi-weeklies, Monthlies –Entertainment / leisure (Poland) –Tourism (Spain, Netherlands) –News, daily look-a-likes (Sweden) –Sports (Spain, UK, France, Italy) –Business (France, UK, Germany, Switzerland) –Real estate (Sweden, Finland, France) –Women (UK)

Paid versus Free  Can both models co-exsist?  Vulnarable –Single copy sales, tabloids, 2 nd papers, ‘general audience’ papers  Survivers –Strong local brands, well-defined up- market readership, business papers

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