I believe the management did state that the new media isn't profitable yet. I really see this smartphone wave doing a drastic change. Your attention media changes.
I suppose it may be your home phone line. It will evolve to a new technology. The question is how much will you pay for it.
At the other spectrum is would you pay for classifieds online.
(16-10-2011, 12:29 AM)Drizzt Wrote: [ -> ]I believe the management did state that the new media isn't profitable yet. I really see this smartphone wave doing a drastic change. Your attention media changes.
I suppose it may be your home phone line. It will evolve to a new technology. The question is how much will you pay for it.
At the other spectrum is would you pay for classifieds online.
I would not "bet" on the new media in SPH line up.
Due to the Printed Press Act, SPH has a monopoly there, hence, a great franchise with good strong investment moats. There is validated/authenticated cirn reach which attracts big brands, MNCs, classified ads to advertise. SPH can also charge high rates due to the monopoly.
"New media" is iffy with no investment moats, competitors can just up the ante . Many want to eat that lunch. Telcos, Google, Microsoft, Apple all want a slice of the action. There are no clear barriers between content developers, delivery platforms purveyors and Smart phone cos like Apple that all want a piece of the "news media/music/videos/movies/advertisements" potpourri we call the "new media" biz.
With no boundaries, no barriers and ever changing dynamics due to technology and infrastructure changes, I will not bet that SPH can make a profit, not to mention consistent profits due to durable advantage in "new media".
but QF, there is no way to stem this isn't it. Lets say we have something through FlipBoard that truly takes off that singaporeans can draw the news from, even though there is such an act, it is something the company have no control over. correct me if i am wrong.
I suppose it has to be a foreign source, because local source SPH can just buy them up.
(16-10-2011, 04:58 PM)Drizzt Wrote: [ -> ]but QF, there is no way to stem this isn't it. Lets say we have something through FlipBoard that truly takes off that singaporeans can draw the news from, even though there is such an act, it is something the company have no control over. correct me if i am wrong.
I suppose it has to be a foreign source, because local source SPH can just buy them up.
What the govt can't control, SPH cannot control.
thats the common thing about newspaper publisher. if u look at them the number is not falling off the cliff its inching down. bleeding...
(02-11-2011, 07:27 PM)Drizzt Wrote: [ -> ]thats the common thing about newspaper publisher. if u look at them the number is not falling off the cliff its inching down. bleeding...
2 Points worth noting....
1) They are using a new metric utilizing total average circulation, a new methodology that includes print, digital and branded editions i.e. a
hybrid circulation count whereby the new media and the old media are mixed.
2) Heightened interest in couponing boosting circulation- An August Groupon promotion, which sold more than 10,000 Sunday-only, two-year subscriptions at $20 each.
QF, online circulation is lower sell price but they can bundle with paper circulation, though you ask yourself whether you would go for those.
but when you talk about defensiveness (leaving out PAP and all) competition barriers are changing. we may need to look at new advertising companies to get a better idea.
(03-11-2011, 05:50 AM)Drizzt Wrote: [ -> ]QF, online circulation is lower sell price but they can bundle with paper circulation, though you ask yourself whether you would go for those.
but when you talk about defensiveness (leaving out PAP and all) competition barriers are changing. we may need to look at new advertising companies to get a better idea.
Agree.
So circulation numbers may go up due to the bundling; as there is double counting on the outreach (kind of fudging numbers).
They get to charge better advert rates than if the "reported" circulation numbers had dropped.
But, will be offset by fall in revenues for subscriptions, due to continued attrition and cannabilsation of the hard copies subscriptions. eg. some may tie online BT with online ST and buy occasional hard copies on Sat for the adverts.
Some updates on the newspaper scene in the US.
Washington Post as U all know is owned by Buffett.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/e...story.html
Quote:The Washington Post Co.’s newspaper division continued to struggle. Print advertising revenue in the third quarter slid to $57.6 million, 20 percent lower than the same period last year. So far this year, print advertising has declined 13 percent. Classified, zoned and general advertising all fell.
Circulation at the newspaper also fell, at a slower pace than last year but accelerating since the beginning of this year. The Post’s daily circulation declined 5.4 percent in the first nine months of 2011 compared with the prior year and 4.4 percent on Sundays. It did not disclose the third-quarter rate alone. For the nine months ended Oct. 2, weekday circulation averaged 518,700 and Sunday circulation averaged 736,800.
One benefit of smaller circulation: The newspaper cut its newsprint expenses by 15 percent.
Online activities didn’t fare much better. Revenue generated by the online news — including washingtonpost.com and Slate — fell 14 percent to $23.3 million in the third quarter. The drop was sharpest for online display advertising, down 17 percent; online classified ad revenue fell 5 percent.
Overall, the newspaper division reported an operating loss of $9.9 million in the third quarter of 2011, compared with an operating loss of $1.7 million a year earlier. For the first nine months of 2011, the division posted $25.6 million in operating losses, compared with $29.8 million in losses a year earlier.
WP is a holding co. and the overall position is a loss, this Q. It used to be that the other bizs helped to negate the losses at the newspaper division to give a profit at the holding co level.