Being Special Is The Only Strategy

Michael Hedges July 5, 2011 Follow on Twitter

The narrowing of content exasperates media experts. From tunnel vision to silo thinking, we have a name for it. Consumers know what they want and want what they know. It’s not just the web that’s “unstoppable”.

Daily newspaper readership, general interest and otherwise, in Spain peaked in 2008 at 42.1% penetration. It has fallen each year. Newspaper readership penetration, as determined by the EGM (Estudio General de Medios) of the Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación (AIMC), has fallen to 37.2%.

Demographics tell a striking story about changes in daily newspaper readership. In 2008, market penetration was 58% among men, according to EGM surveys, the most recent – October 2010 through May 2011 – released June 30th. That has fallen to 50.1%. Readership among women has fallen slightly less, to 30.2% from 34.5%. By age group, readership penetration has fallen among 25 to 34 year olds to 39.7% from 46.9%, 35 to 44 year olds to 41.6% from 46.8% and 45 to 54 year olds to 42.7% from 48.2%.

Daily newspaper readership in 2008, according to the EGM, was overwhelmingly men, 58.2% vs. 41.8% women. It is now 59% men vs. 41% women.

Sports daily Marca leads newspaper readership, as it has for several years. Its daily readership in the October 2010 through May 2011 period was 2, 973,000. And readership just keeps growing, more than 60 thousand over the previous survey. Reporting the EGM results, El Mundo (June 30) called Marca “unstoppable.” Since 2008 Marca’s readership has increased 14.1%.

Marca is something of a brand hog in Spain with Radio Marca, marca.com and automotive periodical Marca Motor. Web portal marca.com reached four million visitors, according to the EGM, leading second place Prisa by more than a million and a half.

Other sports dailies continue to attract readership. Since 2008 readership for As increased 13.4%, Sport 22.5%, El Mundo Deportivo 15.4%

Among the general interest national dailies, El Pais leads with a readership of 1,961,000. El Mundo follows with 1,205,000. Readership for El Pais is down 13.8% since 2008. El Mundo is down 11% across the same period.

Catalonian daily La Vanguardia, based in Barcelona, falls short of the two major national dailies, except that its readership keeps rising. In the recent figures it has 846,000 readers, 21.4% higher than in 2008. Freebie daily 20 Minutos attracted 2,171,000 readers.

The web continues to take prominence as a main media portal in Spain. Daily web users now top 16 million, about 41.5% of the population. Web usage in Spain has lagged behind much of Europe. Slowly but surely it is catching up, gaining about 3% per year over the last decade. After the web, the only radio is consistently gaining audience in Spain.

Following marca.com at four million visitors, the El Pais website passed three million visitors. Facebook has well over a million users, growing more than 500,000 between 2009 and 2010. Social media brands with international profiles – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, et.al. – are attracting far more users than local Spanish sites. On smartphones, trendy in Spain like everywhere else, social media traffic has increased to 46% of all usage in 2011, up from 28% in 2010, according to TNS/Media Life (July 4).

Newspapers in Spain, at least from a branding perspective, are benefiting from a strong new media presence - websites, smartphones and all the rest – as readership of the printed kind falls. Except that it’s just legacy general interest newspaper readership that has fallen. It’s the kiosk that’s changed, Google and smartphones replacing the little shack on the corner. Except that those Spanish sports dailies are mostly sold there. There’s a lot to be said for being special.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Media in Spain and Portugal

The Iberian Peninsula is home to media with vast international reach. Yet, at home the economic crisis has taken its toll. The ftm Knowledge file profiles Spanish and Portuguese public and private media as it struggles to cope. Includes Resources 61 pages PDF (March 2012)

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