Newspapers and magazines as of 2002

Stagnation of the circulation on the printed press market has continued for a few years. The crisis of circulation sales concerns mainly national dailies of general information (circulation sales decreased by 15%) as well as sports dailies (having more or less the same level of decrease). Regional dailies manage much better with the difficulties (decrease by less than 7%) together with dailies devoted to economic and legal matters (–6%). However, such aggregated data blur a few important details, which are clearly distinguished while reading table  ‘Leading national dailies in 1999-2002’ organised according to the average circulation sales and table ‘Leading regional general information dailies in 1999-2002 according to the average circulation sales’.

The segment of general information dailies, both at national as well as regional level is gradually dropping off. After Życie – a national centre-right daily (published in 1996-2002)  had been suspended (in the early years of publishing Życie had about 90 thous. sold copies on the average, whereas in 2002 three times less), there remained only 5 titles of national audience range which still exist on the market, including left-oriented (postcommunist) Trybuna, which experiences similar to Życie economic problems and a decreasing number of readers because of the generational shift. The thesis about the crisis touching newspapers which can be described as excessively politically– or party–orinted may be denied by the situation of Nasz Dziennik, the daily which manifests its obvious national-Catholic orientation, and which is connected with the milieu of Radio Maryja and its controversial head Tadeusz Rydzyk (who currently launches new television named Trwam). The problem is that in fact there is little knowledge about circulation and sales of Nasz Dziennik. It is likely that its circulation remains at about 140-170 thous. copies, which places Nasz Dziennik just after Rzeczpospolita in the rank of leading national dailies in Poland. The configuration of the leading Polish dailies has not changed, however, Rzeczpospolita mentioned above (the 3^rd position on the rank list) has sold less than 200 thous. copies every year since 2001, and a popular tabloid Super Express (the 2^nd position) has decreased its sales below 300 thous. copies. Moreover, even Gazeta Wyborcza – retaining its No 1 ranking – for the first time in the period of 10 years faced the problem of losing the number of people buying it in 2002.

There is no place here for a detailed anaysis of regional general information dailies, yet generally speaking, the situation of that sector is similar. The number of titles decreases (in the middle of 2003 there are only 32 dailies of that type left in Poland). Recently, two regional dailies (connected with an unsuccessful attempt of creating the concern 4Media) went bankrupt. Owing to mergers of titles belonging to the same owner (in which western publishing groups, esp. Polskapresse, specialise), the number of titles competing on the local market decreases. A relatively current example (December 2001) of such a situation refers to the merger of 2 titles from Gdańsk (i.e. absorbtion of Wieczór Wybrzeża by Dziennik Bałtycki). The data in table ‘Leading regional general information dailies in 1999-2002 according to the average circulation sales’ clearly illustrate the phenomenon of duopoly – the division of regional markets between 2 publishing groups, i.e. Polskapresse mentioned above, which is a business representative of Bavarian Verlagsgruppe Passau (it holds shares in 10 titles; its latest success concerns the purchase of shares in Głos Wielkopolski from Poznań and monopolisation of the local market), and Orkla (it holds shares in 11 regional dailies, and also in Rzeczpospolita). Only in the area of Mazowieckie (Warsaw) and Świętokrzyskie (Kielce) Voivodship none of these two publishing groups has its own regional daily; in several other cases (Kraków, Szczecin, and Poznań recently) an ‘independent’ daily plays the role of a local ‘Number 1’.

At the end of the previous decade, free general information papers based on Stockholm Metro came into fashion in Poland, and in 2001-2002 had their short-lived (as it may seem) heyday. Ambitious attempts to occupy all or the majority of big cities undertaken by free dailies failed (the fiascos of AGB Metro and later Gazeta Bezpłatna – introduced by 4Media concern – are worth mentioning here), however, in Warsaw there are two high-circulation (180-250 thous. copies) papers which still struggle for the Warsaw market, i.e. Metropol (owned by a Swedish-Polish company) and Metro (published by Agora SA – the owner of Gazeta Wyborcza). Agora had published its free papers (Metro or Bezpłatna Gazeta Wyborcza) on other markets utill competition was in progress. At present, outside Warsaw there are mainly free weeklies present on the market, out of which Dzień Dobry (delivered to households) and Nasze Miasto (published by Polskapresse only in 3 cities: Kraków, Poznań, and Wrocław, and modelled on local dailies owned by this publisher) are the most well-kown and popular. Economy reasons force independent publishers (with no editorial or organisational bases of paid newspapers – like Agora or Polskapresse) to reduce the number of staff members in local editorial-offices and to publish them in one central head office, which in fact reduces the local character of a paper and attractiveness for a reader.

The crisis on the magazine market is getting deeper and deeper. Stagnation of magazines published with a higher frequency (i.e. weeklies, fortnightlies) is accompanied by a supply increase (refering to the number of titles as well as printed circulation) of monthlies and magazines published less frequently than once a month. At the same time, the sales in 1999-2002 decreased by several per cent in the case of both weeklies and monthlies, but particularly in the case of fortnightlies (though to a large extent it is the effect of a change of Na żywo from entertainment-gossip type magazine to people magazine, which caused a sales decrease by about 180 thous. copies, but at the same time considerably increased advertising incomes). The aggregated data may refer to the majority of titles. It concerns popular (till recently), high circulation cheap easy-reading publications – containing entertainment and gossips about show-business people (such as a weekly – Życie na gorąco; a closed weekly Halo and another weekly people magazine – Gala which appeared in the place of Halo), or even cheaper real-life story magazines about people’s life-problems and sufferings (such as a fortnightly – Z życia wzięte or a monthly – Cienie i Blaski). It would mean that at the time of economic crisis firstly the number of readers who are the poorest, or the least educated and who live in the country drops off (it is correlated with a visible decrease in sales and the number of readers of the tabloid daily – Super Express). Similarly, a visible decrease in sales of practically all more expensive (but at the same time more detailed and extensive) tv-guides may be associated with the development of cheap tv-guide segment in the recent years (e.g. which are 2-3 times cheaper than a popular (till recently) Tele Tydzień or similar magazines). What is also new and astonishing is a decrease in popularity of famous opinion weeklies (Polityka and Wprost), whose readers were initially taken away by a general information weekly – Newsweek Polska, which was started up shortly before the events of September 11, 2001 (however, it also did not manage to retain sales results so impressive at the beginning). One positive thing in 2002 refers to an increase in sales of all women weeklies, out of which Przyjaciółka, after a few year-long fierce competition with Pani Domu, eventually became the leader of the segment. Naj and Tina try hard to overcome the crisis (also by many different forms of promotion – e.g. being a free supplement to weekend issues of certain dailies). Publishers of weeklies and exclusive women magazines – both life-style and advice – more and more often suffer economic (and not only) consequences of the so-called ‘Italian fashion’ – newspapers inserts.

Foreign publishers still strengthen their positions on the Polish market, as for Polish publishing groups there were many significant changes. Among foreign concerns, H. Bauer in particular showed much activity, considerably broadening its portfolio, especially by investments in exclusive magazines (purchasing Twój Styl – the leader of life-style magazine segment, or other titles from WPTS, e.g. Filipinka) or some new ones – e.g. Twój Styl – Trendy; in spring 2002 a new high-circulation women weekly Bella was started up. The publishing house – Gruner + Jahr (as initial data show) successfully launched a new women magazine Glamour. Axel Springer not only broadened its offer with licensed Newsweek Polska, but also with a people magazine (mentioned above) – Gala, and it also annouces the start-up of a Polish tabloid daily. Edipresse purchased two well-known women magazines (existing since the times of the Polish People’s Republic) – Pani and Uroda – the most important titles owned by Polski Dom Wydawniczy. Hachette-Filipacchi (after two failures of other publishers) undertook an attempt to launch the Polish edition of Marie Claire – a magazine for women, and also Maxim – a magazine for men. Burda, after a few years’ break, successfully renewed the publication of a monthly – Dobre Rady. Agora, quite unexpectedly, starts to play an important role on the magazine market (so far – the publisher of Gazeta Wyborcza, and a group of free papers; the owner of more than 20 radio stations). It began at the beginning of 2002, when Agora purchased several titles (including a popular Poradnik Domowy) from the Polish publisher – Prószyński i S-ka.

Rank list of leading publishers – according to total circulation in 2002

Ryszard Filas +, Paweł Płaneta +