‘Notícias’ making a profit, despite falling circulation

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‘Notícias’ making a profit, despite falling circulation

9:49 CAT | 14 May 2018

File photo / Sociedade do Notícias headquarters in Maputo

The print run of Mozambique’s main daily paper, “Noticias”, has fallen to just over 10,000, according to the 2017 report and accounts of the company that owns the paper, Sociedade do Noticias SARL, published in Friday’s edition of the paper.

The print run of “Noticias” fell by 22 per cent from 2016 to 2017. Exact figures are not given, merely a bar chart which shows an average print run of around 14,000 in 2016, and one of somewhat over 10,000 in 2017.

But “Noticias” is doing well, compared with the other two papers published by the company. Over the same period, the print run of the Sunday paper “Domingo” shrank by 27 per cent, and that of the sports weekly “Desafio” by 52 per cent. The bar chart shows that “Domingo” and “Desafio” both had an average print run of around 3,000 in 2017.

Despite the falling circulation, income from sales rose substantially in 2017 – by 31 per cent for “Noticias”, 37 per cent for “Domingo”, and 48 per cent for “Desafio”. This was simply the result of dramatic price rises – the cover price of “Noticias” doubled, from 15 to 30 meticais (from about 25 to 50 US cents). The price of “Domingo” rose by 125 per cent, from 20 to 45 meticais, and that of “Desafio” by 50 per cent from 30 to 45 meticais.

But “Noticias” survives essentially because of advertising. Sales of advertising for the group amounted to 233.3 million meticais in 2017, the vast bulk of it going to “Noticias” rather than to the two weeklies. This was a two per cent decline on the previous year, but it was still more than twice the revenue generated by the sales of papers (105.8 million meticais).

“Noticias” dominates the print media advertising market because of its standing as the largest circulation paper in the country. Even though circulation figures are not properly audited, there is little doubt that it still sells more copies that either of the other two dailies “O Pais” and the Beira-based “Diario de Mocambique”.

There are legal requirements for companies and state bodies to publish certain notices in the paper of largest circulation, which gives “Noticias” a considerable advantage.

The company showed an overall profit in 2017 of 14.3 million meticais – which contrasts with a loss of 52.3 million meticais the previous year, an improvement of 126.9 per cent.

Source: AIM