10.22.07
Relativism in hits rating
An interesting article published on the New York Times reports on site hits: media companies internal count might differ hugely from the statistics provided by Nielsen/Netratings and ComScore. And these discrepancies might affect badly the development of online advertising.
10.02.07
New look for Corriere.it
Il Corriere della Sera has totally renewed its web site: a new header design, the navigation bar on the top, more videocast updates and other web 2.0 tools make it similar to other important newspapers’ web sites (see the New York Times’s appearance).
The new version has just been implemented and still unstable (some sections are from the old version). Some readers are complaining because it’s still impossible to navigate through the pages of corriere.it on a PocketPc and other mobile devices, but Pratellesi has promised they are working on it.
Source: Marco Pratellesi (Corriere.it)
09.26.07
What consumers want from online news
News consumers are keen on “brand promiscuity”, their favourite information platforms are television and the Internet and usefulness, timeliness and easyness in getting news appear to be more important than quality and accuracy. These are the basic findings of the McKinsey Quarterly reasearch about online readers.
Media companies should be aware that the reader’s behaviour is changing: as he prefers relying on a variety of different sources, he appreciates quick and targeted informations, some solutions could be to offer multisource aggregators directly from a newspaper’s website, to thighten links and partnership with local institutions and within the different media companies, to invest in the development of new products for unsatisfied niches.
09.18.07
N.Y.Times online to give up charges
After two years of charging for access to some parts of its website, The New York Times decided to provide its digital content for free. The reasons are simple: on one hand the readers are less and less willing to pay for online content (and most of them have already given up buying the newspaper), on the other hand advertising expenditure on the net is increasing and revenues from this source appear to be more consistent than the few the TimeSelect program brought in the Times in two years.
09.05.07
E-Polis is back… in telecommute mode!
The new publisher of E-Polis, Alberto Rigotti, has decided to bring back the title on the editorial market, introducing an innovation: no more newrooms, the editors will work at home (pc and mobile granted as benefits).
The publisher presented the solution as a plus for his employees (not caring about law and contract infringments):
“The journalist is one dimension of our project for whom we would like to do more. Journalism has gone through a gene mutation due to many factors, not only the technological ones, and great possibilities are opening up: the journalist is becoming a knowledge vehicle and not only an information vehicle. The idea is provide the conditions to our reporters to participate in the editorial tasks, also the paging ones, everywhere they are”.
Congratulations for recognizing the digital revolution affected also journalism in 2007! Concerning the knowledge stuff, it’s a pathetic attempt to gild the pill: no newsrooms means cutting editorial costs. The publisher might have no money (again??) or be simply trying to rise revenues, anyway that’s not a good re-start…
08.30.07
The end of an era
Diario, an italian center-left weekly magazine, is closing down. The main factors that brought the publisher to this hard decision are few copies sold and not enough advertising revenues.
As market analyst I should judge the management of a company impartially, but this time I’m emotionally involved and it’s tougher. I started my (brief) carrer in journalism as a Diario intern and I continued writing as correspondent every now and then. I know all the people working in the newsroom, I know some of their families and I can understand the gravity of losing one’s job. But I’ll try my best analysing the situation.
I think the main problems of Diario are the lack of a marketing department, which would promote the editorial product, and an “homemade” publicity management, only recently externalized to a press agency.
In a market environment where the trends are decreasing revenues from copies sold and fierce competition with tv and new media in advertising, the solution italian publishers found is secondary products, like books and dvds, which increase revenues.
Also Diario tried this way. In fact, the financial report for year 2006 looks “better” compared to the one of the previous year, because the revenues from the chief editor’s self-produced movie lowered the debts. It ends up with a net loss of 644.708 euros anyway.
I drafted a ratio analisys. Please correct me if there’s something wrong (I’m just a student, after all 
)
2006 2005
ROA -19,89% -54,19%
ROE -52,48% -128,22%
ROD 1,44% 3,41%
ACID TEST 130,47% 110,06%
CURRENT RATIO 131,61% 116,75%
DEBT TO CAPITAL 47,32% 36,84%
The level of receivables looks too high and the liabilities increased in 2006. Even if the revenues from goods sold doubled, the costs of production were still higher than revenues.
The acid test ratio appears to be ok, above 1, so the company should be able to pay its short-term obligations and the debt to capital is acceptable. But the return on debt seems to be too high. The current ratio is low (maybe due to the receivables?), while it should be around 200%…
Concerning ROA and ROE, well, they’re negative. The company is losing 0,20 euro for each euro in the assets. Plus ROE should be between 13% and 15% while it’s -54,48%.
I can’t say more, I would need the statement of cash flow…
I would really appreciate feedback on this, because it’s just a challenge to test my financial accounting skills
07.21.07
E-Polis suspended publication
E-Polis, an italian free paper, has suspended publication until an undetermined date. The measure is due to a difficult deal to reach between the publisher, Nicola Grauso, and the printmaker, concerning the recapitalization of the daily.
07.11.07
20 minutos leader in Spain
20 minutos is the most read free paper in Spain, with 2.373.000 daily readers, dispite loosing 11.000 in the first quarter of the year. Qué!, Metro Directo and ADN follow, with 1.883.000, 1.685.000 and 153.000 readers, respectively.
20 minutos is reporting a loss compared to the last quarter of 2006. While Qué! and ADN appear stable, Metro is the free daily which grew most from november 2006, gaining 116.000 readers solely in this quarter. Metro’s growth is probably due to the recent layout restyling and the changes in the distribution policy.
Source: PRnoticias
07.09.07
RAI to implement a ‘quality’ Auditel
A new quality measurement of audience satisfaction of RAI tv programmes will be operating soon, TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (a tv magazine) said. The system will be similar to the ‘audi’ research tecniques but it will based on quality parameters instead.
A revolution in the tv audience measurement? We’ll see.
Source: Primaonline.it
07.03.07
Press industry is growing in Germany
Three out of four people (74% of the adult population) in Germany read a newspaper every day, the Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger (the Federation of German Publishers) reported today in Berlin.
The press was the most important source of advertising revenues (22,3%), even before TV (20,2%) in 2006. The industry turnover increased by 1,2% in comparison to year 2005. Local newspapers remain the most profitable business as they compete out of online and national newspapers reader market.
Source: Primaonline.it
