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 James
Borton eyes the media
English press hard-pressed in Asia
As the new year approaches, there is good news and there is bad news for
English-language print media in Asia. After several years of a weak global
economy and the crippling wages of the "war on terrorism", the overall year-end
media report card reflects significant readership gains for Asian newspapers, a
profusion of news websites and a resounding upswing in print advertising
revenues for newspapers in the region. The possible exceptions are the
beleaguered Asian Wall Street Journal and Financial Times Asia, with regional
paid circulations of just over 85,000 and 30,000 respectively.
The good news for regional media was broadly signaled from several hundred
upbeat Asian newspaper executives representing nearly 30 leading media
corporations at the second Asian Newspaper Leaders Summit in early November in
Bangkok, organized by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).
While the Asian newspaper industry roundly applauds itself for its upswing in
print advertising revenues and surprising increase in readership, Western
global print readership continues to suffer from a dramatic industrywide
readership contraction. According to United Press International, newspapers in
the West (North America and Europe) have been showing a steady decline of
nearly 600,000 readers a year over the past 10 years.
Conspicuously absent from the Asian newspaper summit in Bangkok were publishers
of English-language newspapers, including the Financial Times Asia (FT) and the
Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ), which are struggling to post any signs of
incremental circulation and advertising gains in Asia.
The trends presented by Asian industry leaders and garnering the attention of
the media include the following: the emergence of stronger local-language
newspapers; China and India are defined as the regions for dynamic growth, now
representing more than 25% of global newspaper revenues; market share for
English-language newspapers in Asia continues to decline; and the Internet has
become a major source of revenue, according to WAN, a global industry
association.
"There's greater interest now among Asian media to have more regional coverage,
with deeper regional insights and takes on world affairs. We see newspapers in
particular becoming less parochial, devoting more time and space for
discussions of regional stories, stories about their neighbors, and analysis of
how their respective issues affect each other," acknowledged Roby Alampay,
executive director of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), in Bangkok in
an Asia Times Online interview.
The good news for Asia's newspaper industry is bolstered largely by the more
than 2,119 Chinese-language newspapers. The Middle Kingdom's daily appetite for
news accounts for the largest total daily circulation of any country in the
world, with more than 85 million copies sold, followed by India with 72 million
and Japan with almost 70 million.
What does this signify for publishers of English-language business newspapers,
since regional newspapers are offering news services for the discerning Asian
executive too? Is readership stagnant or even in decline? Is the Internet
offering a cheaper alternative for news in the region? How do publishers
attempt to grab a slice of the increasingly large China advertising pie? Which
publishers of English-language newspapers remain committed to investing in
Asia?
Few countries worldwide reported increased circulation and advertising gains,
with only China and India showing "significant gains in both areas", Timothy
Balding, director general of WAN, said at the Bangkok summit.
For those newspaper publishers not present at the summit, the signal was all
too visible to select competitive global publishers from their quiet offices
overlooking Hong Kong's churning Victoria Harbor. With Asian newspaper
executives pledging a new publishing paradigm of pan-Asian perspectives, and
reaching out to a regional readership, the AWSJ and FT may need to read more
than tea leaves as they deploy editorial personnel and creative marketers to
gain a minuscule market share.
According to Karen Elliott House, president of Dow Jones International, the
AWSJ has the largest share of the Asian advertising market. Before the
shuttering of the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER, which is to be revived as
a monthly), the two business publications combined had more than 23% of the
pan-regional advertising market in Asia.
After Dow Jones and Co's abrupt closing of the revered regional Hong Kong-based
FEER in November, Reginald Chua, the editor of sister publication the AWSJ,
responded to questions from Asia Times Online.
"We think of China as a strong growth opportunity for Dow Jones. As China
integrates more fully with the global economy and opens up its media markets,
there will be a greater and greater interest in quality news and information.
Readers will want it, and publications in China will want to find ways to
provide it," said Chua in an e-mail.
According to the veteran editor, who is under increasing pressure from Dow
Jones in New York to manage expenses, the AWSJ has taken many steps to enter
the China market, including adding reporters (there are now 17 in China),
teaming up with publications with special editions, and setting up a
Chinese-language online edition.
It's no wonder that the AWSJ maintains a commitment to China.
PricewaterhouseCoopers claims that the total China newspaper market exceeded
US$4 billion at the end of 2003, with more than $2.9 billion from advertising
and $1.2 billion from circulation. The global accountancy firm also projects
the Asia-Pacific region to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3%
to $74.5 billion by 2007.
Despite the AWSJ celebrating its 28th anniversary in Hong Kong this past
September, some media buyers and advertisers are still reeling from the way Dow
Jones handled FEER's demise, including the drastic elimination and
restructuring of senior sales positions at the AWSJ. In the media industry it
takes years to develop trusted relationships with advertising agencies, yet
many of the AWSJ sales staffers from FEER were dismissed.
One prominent media observer, who asked not to be identified, told Asia Times
Online that Dow Jones "just seems to be way out touch with the market, and the
way they communicated the recent firing of personnel only accentuates that
perception".
Back in Bangkok, publishers from China, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines,
Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Hong Kong attending the Asian Newspaper Summit
called for an exchange of bold ideas that promise to "lead to development,
innovation and a stronger newspaper industry regionwide", stated Thanachai
Theerapattanavong, chairman and chief executive officer of Nation Multimedia
Group and host of the conference.
As part of the innovative drive to increase readership, the Asia News Network
(ANN), an alliance of Asian newspapers, was launched in 2002 as a consolidated
news site along with market reports, currency information, and weather. With
the motto "We Know Asia Better", the site aims to provide an Asian perspective
on the region's news. The resource was cooperatively launched by 11 Asian
newspapers and quickly added three more. ANN claims that its total daily
circulation is more than 12 million and its combined readership is now
approaching 50 million.
This news about necessary innovation and market development is not lost on the
United Kingdom-based Pearson corporation's Financial Times Asia, with its
trademark salmon-pink pages, published from a new editing room set up last year
in Hong Kong. The new and expanded newsroom provides the London-based newspaper
with a 24-hour global news service.
John Ridding, editor and publisher of Financial Times Asia in Hong Kong,
informed Asia Times Online about the newspaper's position in the crowded Asian
newspaper marketplace. It has been a year since the new FT Asia edition
incorporated increased coverage of Asian business, financial and political
news, comment and analysis. The newspaper bravely launched its expanded
coverage in the chilly atmosphere of the SARS (severe acute respiratory
syndrome) scare, which had sent advertising spending plummeting throughout
Asia.
"From our perspective, when we announced our intention to launch an Asia
edition, it was just as the SARS epidemic broke out - and many people suggested
that it was a crazy time to invest in the region. But we felt strongly that it
was the right thing to do for the business and everything we have seen
subsequently reinforces our confidence," Ridding told Asia Times Online.
Like the AWSJ, the FT has also expanded its reporting teams, reinforcing its
small bureaus in China, South Korea and Hong Kong.
"Prior to the launch of the Asia edition, we'd always had an editorial presence
across Asia and a particularly strong reporting team. But the establishment of
a news editing operation last year, the expansion of our reporting network and
the addition of specialist commentators has further enhanced our coverage,"
Ridding said in an e-mail interview.
The latest data from TNS Media Intelligence/Competitive Media Reporting (CMR),
a leading provider of strategic advertising and marketing communications,
revealed that from September 2004 the Financial Times Asia has generated a
total of 182.15 advertising pages, grossing $2,305,993, while the Asian Wall
Street Journal has printed 785.06 pages thus far this year, yielding
$25,583,999 - all gross revenue figures.
The FT publicly stumbled recently when the launch of an Australian edition went
terribly afoul as the yacht chartered for the occasion - complete with full
FT-colored salmon-pink sails - hit rocks and sank in front of the Sydney Opera
House.
According to CMR, the Asian Wall Street Journal holds the largest share of any
regional English-language daily by a considerable margin. In 2003, for example,
CMR numbers show the AWSJ with a 17.2% share of the regional advertising
market, second only to Time Asia. The International Herald Tribute held a 6.3%
share and the FT a 2.7% share.
Both Chua and Ridding are quick to admit that while the media landscape is
constantly evolving, daily newspapers continue to play a vital role in
informing Asians. Both editors subscribe to the belief that even with the
proliferation of information sources - television, websites and blogs - this
information overload may actually increase rather than decrease the value of
trusted information providers.
House said: "A well-edited, intelligent business newspaper like the Asian Wall
Street Journal takes on even greater importance to discerning readers. If you
want to find a fact or headline, the web may be fine. if you want to be
informed, an honest, well-edited newspaper is by far the best way to go because
someone has sifted the wheat from the chaff and the time-strapped reader can
get reliable information presented in context rather than information from a
blogger who is under no obligation to fact-check anything."
The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) must also agree, since this year it
recognized both newspaper publishers with a long list of achievements: the AWSJ
swept awards for excellence in reporting, feature writing, business reporting,
and opinion writing, but the the grand prize for best newspaper was reserved
for the Financial Times.
"Dow Jones and Co and Pearson have competed with each other for many years. The
Financial Times of London has gone head-to-head with the Wall Street Journal in
the United States, although its circulation in the US is less than 10% of the
Journal's. We also compete with the FT in Europe and competed with its previous
Asia Pacific edition," said Chua.
While the Asian Wall Street Journal and Financial Times maintain their
expensive bureaus throughout Asia and extend regional printing operations,
these elite Western-based business newspapers have every reason to be concerned
about corporate profit-and-loss balance sheets.
The increasing attrition of readership among their white, wealthy and educated
business ranks, high subscription costs, and modest readership among senior
Chinese executives, coupled with stronger competition from local-language media
and digital communications, will only make it that more difficult for these
global news titans to establish a solid footprint in the new Asia.
James Borton is an author and freelance journalist. He welcomes media
news releases, tips about trends, story ideas and comments. He can be reached
at asiareview@yahoo.com.
(Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us
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