HK daily suffers from real estate ad boycott

The daily, which boasts the city's second-highest circulation, is noted for a pro-democracy stance that sits uneasily with many of the the city's property tycoons. "All the big (property) names, like Sun Hung Kai, Cheung Kong, Hang Lung and Henderson Land, have a very close relationship with the mainland Government," said a media agency source. "No one has proved any instructions from Beijing, but this came into place two months ago." Research from admanGo confirms that Apple -- despite its robust circulation numbers -- has failed to cash in on the real estate market. Apple secured just HK$948, 000 (about US$122,000) in property ads between January and March 2004, compared to an overall sector spend of HK$44.9 million. Figures include a 60 per cent discount. "The drop in spending by property clients in Apple Daily is noticeable," said an industry source. "Six months ago, property was the paper's biggest spender." The boycott is nothing new for the daily, published by Next Media, which has suffered at the hands of advertisers before, due to its outspoken criticism of Hong Kong and mainland authorities. "Property developers need Government approval," said a source at Apple. "This is what Hong Kong business, unfortunately, has come to." Both Apple and industry sources questioned the reasoning behind the boycott, given the newspaper's high circulation, and the remote likelihood of any change in its editorial stance. "It won't affect editorial content," said the Apple source. "It's a lose-lose situation," added an industry source. "If you minimise spending on a good targeted publication, your reach will be reduced to a great extent." New World Group's director of corporate communication, C.F. Kwan, refuted the notion that his company was boycotting Apple Daily. "This is very much a commercial decision -- we don't have a policy to advertise based on editorial stance," said Kwan. "We don't advertise in all publications, including pro-China ones." The spectre of boycotts hangs heavily over the Hong Kong newspaper sector--Hutchison Whampoa, for example, has also pulled much of its advertising out of the South China Morning Post (SCMP) in response to that newspaper's stinging criticism of the conglomerate's 3G telecoms strategy. According to admanGo, Hutchison spent just HK$11,000 in the SCMP between January and March 2004. In that period, the conglomerate spent $2.1 million on advertising in print.