A new daily newspaper will hit Spain's already crammed newsstands on Wednesday that will cost half of the amount charged by its paid competitors in an effort to steal readers from both paid and hugely popular free papers.
Called Publico, the left-leaning newspaper will have 64 full-color pages -- compared to the roughly 20 pages put out by free newspapers -- and will feature more graphics and bigger pictures, as well as shorter articles than paid papers.
The paper, backed by Spanish media group Mediapro, will focus on arts, science and sports and cost 0.50 euros, (US$0.70) compared to 1 euro for most papers, director Ignacio Escolar said.
"Politics will not be a subject which we will dedicate most of our time and efforts," he said last week at a news conference.
The target of the newspaper will be young urban residents who began reading daily newspapers after the arrival of free newspapers with their generally breezier style, Publico director-general Juan Pedro Valentin said.
Publico will have a print run of 250,000 copies but Mediapro, an affiliate of WPP Group, refused to give a forecast for sales of the newspaper.
"We can call this newspaper a sort of hybrid," said Carlos Lozano, president of the Association for Mass Media Investigation, because it combines features of both paid and free newspapers.
Publico appears to be viable, he said, since sales of paid newspapers have held up in the face of competition from the Internet and free newspapers while readership of free newspapers is rising.
Four out of the 10 most-read newspapers in Spain are distributed for free and the arrival of the free papers has "set off a revolution," Lozano said.
"It has expanded the number of readers. The paid press attracts relatively older people, of a higher social class. The free newspapers have expanded this base, adding younger people, those of a lower class, immigrants," he said.
With its 2.37 million readers, 20minutos, a free daily, is Spain's most read newspaper, followed by sports daily Marca with 2.33 million readers and left-leaning paid daily El Pais with 2.18 million readers, association figures showed.
In addition to targeting readers of free newspapers, Publico is also aimed at those who are already faithful to a daily newspaper but often buy a second one to complement their daily press dose, Valentin said.
Mediapro, a major shareholder in television channel La Sexta, has been stepping up its competition with Prisa.
Last year it bought the rights to broadcast football matches involving Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona in a blow to Sogecable, Spain's leading pay-TV platform, which is controlled by Prisa and telecoms firm Telefonica.
Commenting on the growing clash between the two firms, former Spanish Socialist prime minister Felipe Gonzalez said he was "worried" about the possibility of "collateral damage and friendly fire."
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘SALAMI-SLICING’: Beijing’s ‘gray zone’ tactics around the Pratas Islands have been slowly intensifying, with the PLA testing Taiwan’s responses and limits, an expert said The Ministry of National Defense yesterday condemned an intrusion by a Chinese drone into the airspace of the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) as a serious disruption of regional peace. The ministry said it detected the Chinese surveillance and reconnaissance drone entering the southwestern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone early yesterday, and it approached the Pratas Islands at 5:41am. The ministry said it immediately notified the garrison stationed in the area to enhance aerial surveillance and alert levels, and the drone was detected in the islands’ territorial airspace at 5:44am, maintaining an altitude outside the effective range of air-defense weaponry. Following
RSS