OYE ! Spain Turns Off Media

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OYE ! Spain Turns Off Media

Michael Hedges July 13, 2006

All media – except the internet and TV – falls and free sheet 20 Minutos becomes the top daily newspaper. Radio results are ugly and hard to read as Cadena COPE is delisted.

The second quarter 2006 General Media Study (EGM) (released July 11) was guaranteed to draw attention to radio audience. Results for major national network Cadena COPE do not appear in the study’s public release. The Association for the Investigation of Media and Communication (AIMC) – official organizer of the comprehensive Spanish media study – voted to remove the networks’ results after it charged that COPE journalists, with management knowledge, attempted to affect results by infiltrating survey interviewers. Even though a Spanish court ruled a week earlier that AIMC must include results from COPE, the network withdrew its figures to place them in newspaper ads. Clearly, this fight goes on.

ftm background

Dear Dan Brown : Have We Got a Plot Line For You !
Spanish radio network COPE caught cheating the EGM survey, then confesses, saying it was justified “journalism.” This story has everything, Dan: arrogance, deceit, expose, outrage and more.

All Fall Down – Internet Levels Spanish Media, Except Free Sheets
The internet marches on in Spain, attracting more and more daily use, according to the Estudio General de Medios (EGM) report. Television, radio, magazines, weekly newspapers and cinema have declined in daily or weekly use. And, for the first time in five years daily newspaper use does not grow. Worst hit was cinema attendance, falling to 7.1% from 11% in 2001.

Media Moves into the Personal Space
Research in Spain and France show mobile phones and personal MP3 players on the rise. Broad-band, too. Other media: not so good.

Nearly 200,000 radio listeners disappeared between the first and second quarterly surveys. General interest national chains were hit hardest. One exception is perennial leader Cadena SER, increasing to 4, 922,000 listeners, Monday through Friday. Onda Cero, RNE1, and Punto Radio all lost listeners.

The results were slightly better for music channels. For Cadena 40, the results were a lot better: a gain of 300,000 listeners. M-80, Maxima and Cadena Dial also increased but KISS FM dropped.

For daily newspapers the results show an undeniable fact: free dailies are taking their toll. For the first time free sheet 20 Minutos beats Marca. No major subscription daily newspaper gained readership. 20 Minutos scored 2,448,000 daily readers compared Marca at 2,418,000.

Weeklies lost more readers than dailies. Pronto lost more than 250,000 and Hola more than 150,000. For monthlies it was even worst: a million readers lost in total.

Of course, daily internet usage gained, though at a slower pace, to 21% from 20.6%. More Spanish women are logging on; now 42.6% of internet users.

The second quarter EGM was conducted in April-May 2006.