Bangkok Post Loses A Fifth Of Its Readers

[george]

BANGKOK POST LOSES A FIFTH OF ITS READERS

The Bangkok Post has this week released its latest independently audited circulation statement detailing the average daily sales for the first six months of 2009.

The headline figure of 50,460 copies represents a 13.66 per cent reduction from the previous six month period, and a 20.27 per cent decline on the same period in 2008.

Single copy sales - copies which are purchased daily in bookshops - stood at 14,251 copies, a 4.98 per cent decline on the previous six months and 11.18 per cent down year-on-year.

Subscriptions in one area where the publisher has done well. The 18,650 copies sold through this method is 14.55 per cent up on the previous six months, although is still 6.66 per cent down year-on-year.

Bulk copy sales are down a massive 27.55 per cent on the previous six months and 35.66 per cent down year-on-year. Bulk sales are heavily discounted copies of the newspaper that are sold to hotels and newsagents.

A brief analysis indicates The Bangkok Post has lost one fifth of its readers in the space of 12 months.

Source: http://www.bangkokbugle.com/2009/12/post-l...l#ixzz0azy5XWDa

[animatic]

Mirroring a general industry trend.

I don't think their blanking TVF because of the Nation tie in,

has effected their bottom line appreciably,

but I doubt is is winning followers either.

The print news industry is practically on the ropes

and not investing heavily in electronic tie ins to keep relevant

may well prove a death toll for many.

[kennkate]

I am not suprised the Bankok Post has lost readers.

I did buy it when I was in Thailand back in 2007.

At that time it was not too bad, I do feel it has gone down the plug hole, I did buy the odd copy in 2008 even at the increased price.

News reporting as gone from poor to crap.

I put that down to government Censorship. Maybee I am wrong on that I only know it's not what it was

lots of Add's and not a lot more Zero interest for me

[Boater]

anyone got the nations stats?

[somchaismith]

Guess they lost a few readers when they denied permission for TV to post their articles.

[basjke]

Guess they lost a few readers when they denied permission for TV to post their articles.

You mean FREE readers.

[powderpuff]

This is piling on by THENATION/THAIVISA.

you forgot the na na na na na na.

[somchaismith]

Guess they lost a few readers when they denied permission for TV to post their articles.

You mean FREE readers.

The articles posted were always linked to BKK Post's website. Is that a free or member's only pay-site? I think it's a free site. Who buys most of their newspapers?

Any advertisement is good advertisement. Reminds me of cutting off your nose to...and all that.

[Publicus]

Newspapers globally are exiting the information paradigm rapidly as cyberspace and IT have become their pacman.

But the year on year loss data of the BP are precipitous and ominous. I haven't seen the previous year on year data of the BP but given the current data it's almost irrelevant and immaterial whether the previous year's data are better, same or worse.

This year's developments for the BP have only one bright spot, the subscriber base, however, given the weight and downward pressure exerted by the whole of the picture, I'd sell any stock I might hold and/or if I worked at the paper I'd start thinking of the only reasonably stable newspapers that remain in the business, the small town local news journals, e.g., the Phuket Gazette or the Pattaya Pis*pot (forget its name at the moment) because hometown people do continue to pay to read who got married or arrested and what the latest government boondoggle will be to line officials' pockets.

RIP BP. 

[Jimjim]

Ya but I want to know how many readers their website lost due to incredibly slow loading times, up to 20 minutes a page. It has better writing than the Nation, yet I can't read it anymore. Disappointing.

[kennalder]

Guess they lost a few readers when they denied permission for TV to post their articles.

Yeah, at least 3 or 4. That'll teach em!

[Maejo Man]

Ya but I want to know how many readers their website lost due to incredibly slow loading times, up to 20 minutes a page. It has better writing than the Nation, yet I can't read it anymore. Disappointing.

All depends om where you are I suppose. It's always been a fast loading site for me. I have probably only bought the Post no more than half a dozen times in the last 20 odd years, so it's no me that's costing them money; seems to be a global trend with newspapers. If the "greenies" had their way, they would all be banned.

[Publicus]

Ya but I want to know how many readers their website lost due to incredibly slow loading times, up to 20 minutes a page. It has better writing than the Nation, yet I can't read it anymore. Disappointing.

All depends om where you are I suppose. It's always been a fast loading site for me. I have probably only bought the Post no more than half a dozen times in the last 20 odd years, so it's no me that's costing them money; seems to be a global trend with newspapers. If the "greenies" had their way, they would all be banned.

More power to the greenies and to the tree huggers. Since Bill Gates and Steve Jobs we've anyway used a heck of a lot less paper than previously, as during the industrial and post industrial period when there were bank checks and bank statements, and all of their paper processes now obsolete in favor of production online instead of printed and mailed in envelopes by snail mail etc. Same for a great deal of paperwork and paper output in many other respects. 

For more than a decade, while we have continued to use paper, we've used it far less than previous to the present age of hardware and software, and of IT.

So yeh now we use lots more electrical and other forms of energy but, hey greenies, that's why we need other forms of energy, such as wind, solar, geothermal etc and - horrors of all horrors - nuclear!  

Edited December 28, 2009 by Publicus

[sanook2me]

Strange that, as i love to buy the BP and read it while having lunch or on the loo, but never both at the same time

There are 4 shops that sell the BP in my local Central but if they have sold out and only the Nation is left i will just leave it.

The Nation is really a waste of money can read it in 5 minutes flat...its not for me...

[Mosha]

Not a reflection of the tourist trade then. I always used to buy the post when coming here as a mere tourist.

[Publicus]

Strange that, as i love to buy the BP and read it while having lunch or on the loo, but never both at the same time

There are 4 shops that sell the BP in my local Central but if they have sold out and only the Nation is left i will just leave it.

The Nation is really a waste of money can read it in 5 minutes flat...its not for me...

It until recently was very different about the Nation, which many respected academics and journalists, not to mention diplomats and corporate investors and the like considered to be the English language newspaper of record. 

Pasuk/Baker certainly cited it profusely in their notes at the end of chapters, only occasionally citing the BP.

Then came the bitter and cutthroat conflict between Dr. Thaksin and Yoon. It has not gone unnoticed that neither have been the same since. Much like Thailand itself.

Edited December 29, 2009 by Publicus

[lazygourmet]

I just buy it every Friday for its accurate events and exhibitions listing.

[lensta]

That ok, they can do the usual Thai thing and put the price up by 20%. Problem solved!!

[Scott]

I get the Post delivered daily and will continue to do so. I like the paper and it's a little like an old friend. I read it less and less and read more on-line, but since my dog is "paper-trained" I have to get a paper everyday.

[grantbkk]

anyone got the nations stats?

Both readers are on the fence. They may make to switch next year to the Bangkok Post because it has more pages to use to wrap food.

[phetaroi]

Ya but I want to know how many readers their website lost due to incredibly slow loading times, up to 20 minutes a page. It has better writing than the Nation, yet I can't read it anymore. Disappointing.

Must be you. Mine never takes even 20 seconds to load.

[phetaroi]

I just buy it every Friday for its accurate events and exhibitions listing.

Ah tell me more. Is it best to buy it on Fridays for that, or on Sundays?

[phetaroi]

There are two reasons I don't buy the Post or The Nation:

1. There's nowhere I walk near home that there are any on sale.

2. I read the online editions.

I am going to start buying both papers on Sundays for the "events" info, which online are woefully inadequate. Plus, I'll be buying a parrot soon and they will be perfect for lining the bottom of the cage; that's not an editorial comment.

[johnsjourney]

When they cover the entire newspaper with an advert sheet there is no chance of me buying it. If they show a headline there is a small chance. It always seems to have the advert when I look at it in a shop.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

I used to buy the Post on a regular basis (for sure every Wednesday when the "Database" was there) but i have noticed the following:

- Price goes up and up and up

- Content becomes less and less and less

- Advertisements become more and more and more

So by now i could buy a paper that has less pages for a higher price only to find it is made of more than 50% advertising that should not cost money in first place.

However the actual reason why i am no longer buying the Post is that simply all four newspaper shops in my area no longer sell it! And if i have to get on the motorbike to go and get my advertisements, pardon newspaper, then it is simply no longer worth it. One of them (only one!) sells The Nation but i never liked the way it was made up...... and it, too, contains way too much advertising.

Best regards.....

Thanh

PS i have not read their respective online editions either. Indeed Thaivisa is my main source of news

[Redsands]

Well they might do better in Hua Hin if we could get copies, in the main shipping mall we have 1 shop and 3 stalls that sell the BP, after 11.00 am you cannot get a copy, likewise in the 7-11 shops.

[bkkjames]

The numbers are a direct reflection of the lack of tourists in hotel rooms over the past year.

No tourists - no need to hang the post on the door.

[Tawai]

Used to read the Post for years - was brought around noon to the office for a good price ( not sure but around 4200 a year  incl. a 1000 Baht voucher at Central, Lotus).

Before the subscription ran out this year, they sent letters with new price (around 5000 and no voucher !!).  

Well for me it was the better daily in Thailand, but still bad. The thing I disliked most was the constant uncriticizing reports. I now it is not easy in Thailand to write the truth or report about certain incidents involving Puu Yais. But since Thaksin fled the scene, BP should be more criticizing and report the misdeeds.

Miss Database though.

Edited December 29, 2009 by Tawai

[kiwiTV]

More power to the greenies and to the tree huggers. Since Bill Gates and Steve Jobs we've anyway used a heck of a lot less paper than previously, as during the industrial and post industrial period when there were bank checks and bank statements, and all of their paper processes now obsolete in favor of production online instead of printed and mailed in envelopes by snail mail etc. Same for a great deal of paperwork and paper output in many other respects.

For more than a decade, while we have continued to use paper, we've used it far less than previous to the present age of hardware and software, and of IT.

So yeh now we use lots more electrical and other forms of energy but, hey greenies, that's why we need other forms of energy, such as wind, solar, geothermal etc and - horrors of all horrors - nuclear!

More Paper, Not Less

The world's paper renaissance extends to both new and traditional uses. Inexpensive computer printers, for example, have encouraged home paper use. By one estimate, personal computers in the early 1990s accounted for 115 billion sheets of paper per year worldwide; today Hewlett-Packard estimates that laser printers in North America alone are churning out 1.2 trillion pages annually (Anzovin 1993 cited in Young 1993:42; Brooke 2001). Offices continue to rely on paper for files and records; just 10 percent of office documentation was in digital form as of the mid-1990s (von Ungern-Sternberg and von Ungern-Sternberg 1999:230).

Paper still dominates the publishing industry, with electronic publications accounting for only 5-15 percent of the world's publishing market. Although newspaper circulation in industrialized countries was declining even before the advent of the Internet, worldwide demand for newsprint is still expected to grow an average of 2 percent a year for the next 10 years, driven by increases in Asian newspaper readership (von Ungern Sternberg and von Ungern-Sternberg 1999:231; Salonen 2000).

In addition to such traditional print products as books, newspapers, and stationery, new markets for mail order catalogues and marketing and promotional materials are keeping paper consumption buoyant. In the United States, the number of pieces of mail delivered each year has increased by 25 billion over the last 5 years to 210 billion (PaperCom Alliance 2000:5; U.S. Postal Service 2000:4). Communications, however, make up less than half of the world's paper use; a bigger share is now taken by the booming packaging industry (IIED 1996:16). Global production of paper for wrapping, packaging, corrugated boxes and other containers increased 75 percent over the last 5 years to 140 million metric tons in 1999 (FAO 2001).

[bkkdawg]

I have been here since 2004 and back then I'd buy the BKK Post almost every day. It was maybe worth the 20 baht back then, but to be honest I'd rather keep the 30 baht in my pocket these days that there now asking for it. Waste of money and none of the real Thai news that is in the Thai papers (lets not let the farangs know whats really going on). Also, the classifieds section seems like it is just copied from the day before, so I'm not surprised no one is buying it.

Dawg