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Romania among leading 10 European countries by free newspapers market share

Romania counts to the top ten European countries by the market share of free newspapers, with 35 pct of the Romanian papers' distribution assigned to this segment, reveals a survey by Newspaper Innovation, cited on Tuesday by Business Standard.

According to the survey, at the end of October this year, Romania ranked tenth among the European countries with the largest market share of free press, far above the 20 pct this niche category accounted for in 2006.

This new breed of free newspapers got a boost towards the end of 2007, when local publisher Inform Media launched the free publications Cluj Expres and Hunedoara Expres; this year Confort Media - the trust owned by business heavyweights Ionut and Robert Negoita - added the no-fee papers Ring to its portfolio; Adevarul Holding did the same with evening paper ‘Adevarul de seara'. Other free local print titles are also featured on the list.

Iceland leads in the Newspaper Innovation ranking with free papers accounting for 72 pct of the total distribution, followed by Portugal (55 pct) and Macedonia (53 pct).

Some players on the local media market regard free print in Romania with skepticism and count on a smaller share in the future. Lucian Romascanu, CEO of the free daily Compact published by Ringier Romania, says that this share might narrow next year in the context of the market's resettling.

On the other hand, Andreea Lukic-Dogariu, COO of local publisher Inform Media, estimates the share of free sheets will rise, boosted by the crisis. 'Following the rise in the distribution commission charged by the Romanian Post Company, many local content-for-pay papers will no longer resist and will turn free. The distribution of a free paper costs less than one quarter of what a paid daily costs,' said Andreea Lukic-Dogariu.

 

Sursa: http://www.rompress.ro

Tags: share local market newspapers european countries romania

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