The British daily The Independent, whose sales have plummeted in recent years, stopped its print edition and will switch to 100% digital from March 26, announced its owner Friday. “The newspaper industry is changing and this change is initiated by the players. They show us that the future is digital,” said in a statement Evgeny Lebedev, the British owner of Russian origin of the newspaper.
“We were faced with a choice: to manage the continuing decline of the paper or turn the digital base we have built a profitable and sustainable future,” he added in a letter to staff.
“We will be the first of many major titles to switch to 100% digital future,” he said. With about 60,000 sales a day, 40,000 of which paid, The Independent, born in 1986, is the national daily minimum distributed in the UK, behind the tabloids like the Sun or the Daily Mail and titles such as The Times, The Guardian or the Daily Telegraph. At its peak in November 1989, the distribution of The Independent, currently sold for the price of 1.60 pounds (2 euros), exceeded 420,000 copies.
“This decision saves the trademark of The Independent and allows us to continue to invest in high-quality editorial content that attracts more and more readers on our online platforms, “added Mr. Lebedev, head of ESI Media group which also owns the daily Free The Evening Standard. The group also confirmed the sale, subject to approval of shareholders, “i”, lighter version of the newspaper, the Johnston Press group, which should also accommodate the passage “a significant number of employees” of The Independent. The sale is expected to generate about 25 million pounds (32 million euros), according to British media.
“There will be some redundancies among editorial staff,” added however ESI Media. Approximately 150 people work for The Independent. ESI Media, which also owns the London Live television, insisted that The Independent was becoming “the first national newspaper to launch in 100% digital adventure on a global scale.” He announced the establishment of an application for mobile subscription and the opening of new offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia as well as growth in the US.
website, attracting nearly 70 million unique visitors per month, is already profitable and expects an increase in revenue of around 50% this year. First British newspaper to go tabloid, “The Independent has always been an innovative newspaper,” said Mr. Lebedev, whose family bought the title in 2010.
Already precedents
As the British newspaper “the Independent”, several major newspapers in the world have renounced their print edition in recent years due to falling sales and advertising revenues, a choice that generally downsized and influence. In the United States, “Christian Science Monitor” newspaper prestigious centenary, in 2008 had been the first to abandon the paper. Many magazines followed, including the end of 2012 the weekly “Newsweek”, aged 80, before returning to the booth in 2014.
The satirical newspaper “The Onion” has become 100% digital in late 2013 just like last year the political magazine “National Journal” or early 2016 erotic magazine “Penthouse”. Recent years have also gone the paper versions of US magazines as “XXL”, “American Photo Magazine,” “Vibe”, “SmartMoney Magazine” or “Auto Trader”.
The move also affected Canada, with the arrest in September 2015 of the printed version of “La Presse” and early 2016 that of “Guelph Mercury”, a daily newspaper founded in 1867. in France, three printed newspapers have gone in 5 years: in May 2015, TF1 has decided to discontinue the printed version of its free daily “MetroNews” heavy loss, and dismissed 60% of the workforce, according to TF1 effect of the “crisis in the advertising market.” Before him, in late 2011, the national newspaper “France Soir”, with great difficulty, had fallen back on the internet after 70 years of existence on newsstands, as in January 2012 the economic daily “La Tribune”, born 26 years early.
(With AFP)
No comments:
Post a Comment