IHT readership up in South Korea

<p>The International Herald Tribune is reporting dramatically </p><p>increased readership in South Korea following the establishment of a </p><p>publishing partnership with JoongAng Ilbo. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Under the partnership, JoongAng Ilbo - one of Korea's leading newspapers </p><p>- produces an eight-page section in English that covers news, economy, </p><p>business, culture and sport in Korea. This section is inserted into the </p><p>IHT as a second section and sold as a joint newspaper throughout the </p><p>country by subscription and through newsstand sales. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>During the launch week, IHT daily copy sales soared dramatically from </p><p>1,600 to almost 8,000, while subscriptions jumped a hefty 35 per </p><p>cent. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The Korean partnership represents the first "global local" in Asia, IHT </p><p>vice-president and commercial director Stephen Dunbar-Johnson said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Korea was the first in Asia because that was the country where we could </p><p>strike a deal first. Of course, we are having discussions with other </p><p>Asian publishers, primarily Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia Singapore, </p><p>Indonesia and Japan is certainly right up there," he told MEDIA. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Dunbar-Johnson said the IHT's soaring circulation in Korea was not a </p><p>one-off affair. "It's happened wherever we have forged these publishing </p><p>partnerships, which is why we will continue setting up these </p><p>partnerships." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The aim of including local news from a nation's leading publisher into </p><p>the IHT is to grow its market of "global readers", a class of people </p><p>whom IHT Asia-Pacific advertising director Jonathan Kenny described as </p><p>multinational in outlook, affluent and travel frequently. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We want to try to create a point of difference in each of the markets </p><p>we serve and in this case, our readers can get both international and </p><p>local news from two reputable publishers in one paper," Mr Kenny </p><p>said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Dunbar-Johnson added that growing circulation in this way guaranteed </p><p>to advertisers the quality of the IHT's readers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We're not going out there and just dumping newspapers in hotels and </p><p>airlines and then saying, 'Hey, our circulation has gone up 25 per </p><p>cent'. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"What we are doing is growing our readership base of high net worth, </p><p>global individuals and delivering just that to our advertisers," he </p><p>said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>