Here are the newspapers that pocket the most state funds
The crisis in print media has been going on for a while now and, to survive, newspapers rely on advertising investments (in decline) and public contributions (in the hands of a few). The Digital Media Sunday Brunch newsletter takes stock with names and numbers. All the details
TV, understood as a means of information, is increasingly less followed, while social platforms beat all other types of media. Print media is now a distant memory but online news is also carefully avoided by users, partly due to negative content and partly due to growing distrust.
This is the photograph taken by the research company GWI, which interviewed over 960 thousand Internet users in 53 markets (including Italy) aged between 16 and 64. This was reported by the Digital Media Sunday Brunch newsletter which focused on the data relating to the performance of newspapers, which are trying to stay afloat between advertising investments and public contributions.
HOW IS PRINT PAPER ADVERTISING COLLECTION GOING
Advertising investments in the press are decreasing. 13.7% compared to 2023. This was stated by Digital Media Sunday Brunch, citing data from the Federation of Advertising Dealers (Fcp) relating to print media advertising sales in February 2024.
Worst of all is the newspapers which recorded a -14.6% compared to the first two months of last year. In detail, the national ones lost 11% year on year, while the local ones fared better, falling by only 1.1% compared to the previous year.
But looking further back in time, Digital Media Sunday Brunch observes that "the panorama is even bleaker", in fact, "the total advertising investments, compared to 2018, fell by 39.7%", with "national newspapers [which ] leave 30.4% on the ground, and the local ones 39.5%".
“In space – we read – the trend remains negative but in a less accentuated way, confirming that the concessionaires continue to give in on the price lists in order to keep advertisers tied. Constant dynamics over time whose logic we really struggle to understand."
WHAT IS WRONG WITH STATE CONTRIBUTIONS
There are 80 publishing groups and newspapers that have requested the extraordinary contribution to the Department for Information and Publishing, which has set the spending ceiling at 28 million euros , against the almost 38 million euros hoped for by the newspapers .
The 28 million euros for the year 2022, for copies sold in 2021, correspond to a contribution equal to 5 euro cents for each paper copy of newspapers and periodicals sold, including by subscription, in the reference year.
These data, states Digital Media Sunday Brunch, "say a lot about how badly state money, and therefore citizens', money is spent on publishing". Meanwhile, "because they only concern printed publications" – while the world has already moved and is continuing to move towards digital – and then because "as happens with direct contributions, there is a strong concentration of resources in favor of a few".
RESOURCES IN THE HANDS OF A FEW
Of the 80 publishers and newspapers who requested, 27, or about a third of the total, received a contribution of more than 200 thousand euros. “A total of 23.8 million euros go to these – writes Digital Media Sunday Brunch –, i.e. 85% of the total”.
The top five (RCS Mediagroup, Gedi, Cairo Editore, Editoriale Nazionale and Mondadori), all above one million euros, go for almost 14.1 million, equal to more than 50% of the total.
In particular, Cairo, with RCS and Cairo Editore, receives the largest share as it collects 7.1 million euros, that is, "it alone collects a quarter [25.3%] of the total contributions paid".
Among the other lucky ones, adding together the various newspapers owned, Caltagirone Editore receives more than 1.5 million euros, while the Belpietro Group receives more than 705 thousand euros. The SAE Group receives over 786 thousand and the Sesaab Group and Angelucci's publications amount to over half a million euros.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/giornali-fondi-statali/ on Wed, 01 May 2024 05:45:41 +0000.