Sing Tao Plans to Launch Free Chinese Daily

***hkskyline*** · June 27th, 2005, 06:18 PM

Sing Tao presses for piece of action with free paper
New Chinese-language daily looking to challenge rival's market dominance
Frederick Yeung
27 June 2005
South China Morning Post

Sing Tao News Corp plans to launch a free daily newspaper within the next two months, heating up Hong Kong's already fiercely competitive print media market.

Sing Tao's entrant will be the city's third free Chinese-language newspaper, joining the highly successful Metro and a second being prepared for launch in the fourth quarter by Shih Wing-ching, chairman of the Centaline Group property agency. Mr Shih is scheduled to brief the media on his new publication's title and progress today.

"Sing Tao is finalising its plans for the free daily and will soon give a presentation to advertising agencies on its positioning as well as rate card," an industry source said.

Sing Tao's new publication appears modelled on more than just Metro's advertising-only revenue model. Like Metro, which uses agency copy and is printed by Apple Daily's press, Sing Tao's paper will source content externally from its sister Sing Tao Daily and will be printed by Wen Wei Po. A maximum print run of 100,000 copies is planned.

In addition to Sing Tao Daily, Sing Tao also publishes The Standard newspaper and Chinese weeklies Eastweek and East Touch.

Established in April 2002, Metro has a daily circulation of more than 300,000 copies and a readership of 717,000. Distributed at MTR stations and profitable after only two years of operations, Metro has been the biggest thing to hit Hong Kong's Chinese newspaper market since Jimmy Lai Chee-ying launched the Apple Daily 10 years ago.

According to data from MindShare, for the first five months of this year Metro's advertising revenues rose 25 per cent to $257 million, ranking it sixth.

"Metro's advertising rates stood firm ... while mass papers Apple Daily and Oriental Daily News always provide special discounts to their clients," said a media agent. "The two mass papers are feeling the threat from Metro."

A media analyst at a brokerage added: "Some of the second-tier newspapers such as Sing Pao and Hong Kong Daily News will suffer once the two new free dailies enter the market, as their readership profile overlaps with Metro's."

Mr Shih said that while Sing Tao's entry into the free daily segment will dilute the advertising revenues he had expected for his publication, which will also be printed by the Apple Daily's press, he still expects to achieve profitability. "In the long term our circulation will increase from 100,000 to over 200,000," he predicted.

rt_0891 · June 30th, 2005, 08:56 AM

Yeah, free reading while on MTR or Citybus!

***hkskyline*** · July 10th, 2005, 02:41 AM

Saturday July 9, 9:33 am ET
Hong Kong Media Group to Launch Free Daily in Territory's Already Crowded Newspaper Market

HONG KONG (AP) -- A Hong Kong media group said Saturday it will launch a free daily newspaper in the Chinese territory's already crowded newspaper market -- the second such venture to be announced in two weeks.

Sing Tao News Corp., which publishes the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily and the English business newspaper The Standard, said in a statement it will launch the free Headline Daily newspaper but didn't give any other details.

The announcement comes two weeks after real-estate executive Shih Wing-ching said he will launch a free daily later this year.

A third free daily, Metro, is run by Sweden-base Metro International S.A.

Hong Kong has one of the most competitive print media markets in the world, with over a dozen daily newspapers competing for readers from a population of nearly 6.9 million.

***hkskyline*** · July 28th, 2006, 02:54 PM

Leading papers suffer as free dailies eat into ad budgets
27 July 2006
South China Morning Post

The latest survey of daily newspaper advertising spending by Nielsen Media Research will not make comforting reading for Hong Kong's circulation leaders, Oriental Daily News and Apple Daily.

Figures for the first six months of this year tend to confirm the predictions of many in the industry that the three free dailies would steal an increasingly large chunk of revenue from the traditional papers.

Both the free papers and the Chinese-language quality dailies outpaced the average 8 per cent growth in Hong Kong newspaper advertising in the first half, according to Nielsen Media.

It said Oriental Daily News suffered a 10 per cent drop in advertising income to $2.02 billion in the first half compared with a year earlier and saw its market share decline to 24 per cent from 29 per cent. Apple Daily's advertising take fell 6 per cent to $1.24 billion in the first half and its share slipped about 2 percentage points to 14.9 per cent.

On a pre-discount basis, total newspaper advertising revenue in the first six months was $8.3 billion, versus $7.6 billion in the same period last year, the researchers said.

The three free sheets - Metro and upstarts Headline Daily and am730 - along with Ming Pao Daily News, Hong Kong Economic Times and Hong Kong Economic Journal, showed the fastest growth.

Nielsen Media also said advertising income at Oriental Press Group's The Sun soared more than 50 per cent to $549 million in the period, although it followed a price cut last October.

The Economic Times, buoyed by a spate of new share offerings in the first half, saw its advertising receipts climb 15 per cent to $1.09 billion, placing it third overall, while Ming Pao's advertising take grew 12 per cent to $589 million after it bulked up its business section to win a bigger share of bank and financial services spending. Both papers also benefited from the economic recovery, which brought in more luxury goods advertisements.

The trend for giveaways shows no signs of waning. The free sheets collected a combined $774 million or 10 per cent of all newspaper advertising dollars in the first half, according to Nielsen. Compare that with their combined $572 million of revenue or a 6.4 per cent share in the preceding six months.

Metro, the original free paper, retained its place atop the category with $342 million in advertising, up 8 per cent from a year earlier.

Its two competitors both debuted in July last year. Headline Daily, a member of the Sing Tao News stable, garnered $221 million in the first half of this year, a 90 per cent gain compared with the first six months of its existence. Am730, owned by property-agency magnate Shih Wing-ching, raked in $211 million, up 50 per cent from the previous half-year.

Skybean · July 28th, 2006, 05:42 PM

Wow, I'm surprised that you remembered about this thread from a year ago to dig it back up. Anyways, this is not too surprising. I guess paid papers will have to give away more than a tissue packet

spicytimothy · July 28th, 2006, 06:23 PM

yah i've heard about the free newspapers, and I just discovered one of their websites earlier this week.. it's so much better than singtao.com!

www.hkheadline.com

***hkskyline*** · July 28th, 2006, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybean

Wow, I'm surprised that you remembered about this thread from a year ago to dig it back up. Anyways, this is not too surprising. I guess paid papers will have to give away more than a tissue packet

I remember a lot of the themes in my threads so I just go to archive mode to search for them and then add an update post.

This is what happens when I'm on the forum too often!

June 27th, 2005, 06:18 PM	#1
*hkskyline* Hong Kong Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 50,976	Sing Tao Plans to Launch Free Chinese Daily Sing Tao presses for piece of action with free paper New Chinese-language daily looking to challenge rival's market dominance Frederick Yeung 27 June 2005 South China Morning Post Sing Tao News Corp plans to launch a free daily newspaper within the next two months, heating up Hong Kong's already fiercely competitive print media market. Sing Tao's entrant will be the city's third free Chinese-language newspaper, joining the highly successful Metro and a second being prepared for launch in the fourth quarter by Shih Wing-ching, chairman of the Centaline Group property agency. Mr Shih is scheduled to brief the media on his new publication's title and progress today. "Sing Tao is finalising its plans for the free daily and will soon give a presentation to advertising agencies on its positioning as well as rate card," an industry source said. Sing Tao's new publication appears modelled on more than just Metro's advertising-only revenue model. Like Metro, which uses agency copy and is printed by Apple Daily's press, Sing Tao's paper will source content externally from its sister Sing Tao Daily and will be printed by Wen Wei Po. A maximum print run of 100,000 copies is planned. In addition to Sing Tao Daily, Sing Tao also publishes The Standard newspaper and Chinese weeklies Eastweek and East Touch. Established in April 2002, Metro has a daily circulation of more than 300,000 copies and a readership of 717,000. Distributed at MTR stations and profitable after only two years of operations, Metro has been the biggest thing to hit Hong Kong's Chinese newspaper market since Jimmy Lai Chee-ying launched the Apple Daily 10 years ago. According to data from MindShare, for the first five months of this year Metro's advertising revenues rose 25 per cent to $257 million, ranking it sixth. "Metro's advertising rates stood firm ... while mass papers Apple Daily and Oriental Daily News always provide special discounts to their clients," said a media agent. "The two mass papers are feeling the threat from Metro." A media analyst at a brokerage added: "Some of the second-tier newspapers such as Sing Pao and Hong Kong Daily News will suffer once the two new free dailies enter the market, as their readership profile overlaps with Metro's." Mr Shih said that while Sing Tao's entry into the free daily segment will dilute the advertising revenues he had expected for his publication, which will also be printed by the Apple Daily's press, he still expects to achieve profitability. "In the long term our circulation will increase from 100,000 to over 200,000," he predicted. __________________ Hong Kong Photo Gallery - Click Here for the Hong Kong Galleries World Photo Gallery - \| New York \| Lisbon \| Prague \| Beijing \| Madrid \| Melbourne \| London \| Riga Sydney, Brisbane, Copenhagen, Vienna, Mumbai, Seoul, Berlin, Rocky Mountains, Stockholm, and much more!

July 10th, 2005, 02:41 AM	#3
*hkskyline* Hong Kong Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 50,976	Saturday July 9, 9:33 am ET Hong Kong Media Group to Launch Free Daily in Territory's Already Crowded Newspaper Market HONG KONG (AP) -- A Hong Kong media group said Saturday it will launch a free daily newspaper in the Chinese territory's already crowded newspaper market -- the second such venture to be announced in two weeks. Sing Tao News Corp., which publishes the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily and the English business newspaper The Standard, said in a statement it will launch the free Headline Daily newspaper but didn't give any other details. The announcement comes two weeks after real-estate executive Shih Wing-ching said he will launch a free daily later this year. A third free daily, Metro, is run by Sweden-base Metro International S.A. Hong Kong has one of the most competitive print media markets in the world, with over a dozen daily newspapers competing for readers from a population of nearly 6.9 million. __________________ Hong Kong Photo Gallery - Click Here for the Hong Kong Galleries World Photo Gallery - \| New York \| Lisbon \| Prague \| Beijing \| Madrid \| Melbourne \| London \| Riga Sydney, Brisbane, Copenhagen, Vienna, Mumbai, Seoul, Berlin, Rocky Mountains, Stockholm, and much more!

July 28th, 2006, 02:54 PM	#4
*hkskyline* Hong Kong Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 50,976	Leading papers suffer as free dailies eat into ad budgets 27 July 2006 South China Morning Post The latest survey of daily newspaper advertising spending by Nielsen Media Research will not make comforting reading for Hong Kong's circulation leaders, Oriental Daily News and Apple Daily. Figures for the first six months of this year tend to confirm the predictions of many in the industry that the three free dailies would steal an increasingly large chunk of revenue from the traditional papers. Both the free papers and the Chinese-language quality dailies outpaced the average 8 per cent growth in Hong Kong newspaper advertising in the first half, according to Nielsen Media. It said Oriental Daily News suffered a 10 per cent drop in advertising income to $2.02 billion in the first half compared with a year earlier and saw its market share decline to 24 per cent from 29 per cent. Apple Daily's advertising take fell 6 per cent to $1.24 billion in the first half and its share slipped about 2 percentage points to 14.9 per cent. On a pre-discount basis, total newspaper advertising revenue in the first six months was $8.3 billion, versus $7.6 billion in the same period last year, the researchers said. The three free sheets - Metro and upstarts Headline Daily and am730 - along with Ming Pao Daily News, Hong Kong Economic Times and Hong Kong Economic Journal, showed the fastest growth. Nielsen Media also said advertising income at Oriental Press Group's The Sun soared more than 50 per cent to $549 million in the period, although it followed a price cut last October. The Economic Times, buoyed by a spate of new share offerings in the first half, saw its advertising receipts climb 15 per cent to $1.09 billion, placing it third overall, while Ming Pao's advertising take grew 12 per cent to $589 million after it bulked up its business section to win a bigger share of bank and financial services spending. Both papers also benefited from the economic recovery, which brought in more luxury goods advertisements. The trend for giveaways shows no signs of waning. The free sheets collected a combined $774 million or 10 per cent of all newspaper advertising dollars in the first half, according to Nielsen. Compare that with their combined $572 million of revenue or a 6.4 per cent share in the preceding six months. Metro, the original free paper, retained its place atop the category with $342 million in advertising, up 8 per cent from a year earlier. Its two competitors both debuted in July last year. Headline Daily, a member of the Sing Tao News stable, garnered $221 million in the first half of this year, a 90 per cent gain compared with the first six months of its existence. Am730, owned by property-agency magnate Shih Wing-ching, raked in $211 million, up 50 per cent from the previous half-year. __________________ Hong Kong Photo Gallery - Click Here for the Hong Kong Galleries World Photo Gallery - \| New York \| Lisbon \| Prague \| Beijing \| Madrid \| Melbourne \| London \| Riga Sydney, Brisbane, Copenhagen, Vienna, Mumbai, Seoul, Berlin, Rocky Mountains, Stockholm, and much more!

July 28th, 2006, 05:42 PM	#5
Skybean 天豆 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 8,315	Wow, I'm surprised that you remembered about this thread from a year ago to dig it back up. Anyways, this is not too surprising. I guess paid papers will have to give away more than a tissue packet __________________ 「My Photos」 ● Hong Kong 1\|2\|3 ● Macau 1 ● London 1 ● New York City 1 「Photo Threads」 ● Flying Over Hong Kong 「City Life Series」 ● Hong Kong ● Shanghai ● Seoul ● Tokyo

July 28th, 2006, 06:23 PM	#6
spicytimothy ...::HK.:.:.:.LA::... Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Hong Kong / Los Angeles Posts: 1,253	yah i've heard about the free newspapers, and I just discovered one of their websites earlier this week.. it's so much better than singtao.com! www.hkheadline.com __________________ "Image Is Just Your Imagination. Reality Is Rarely Revealed."

June 30th, 2005, 08:56 AM	#2
rt_0891 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Toronto, Hong Kong, Vancouver Posts: 2,697	Yeah, free reading while on MTR or Citybus!

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