Major titles suffer 5pc dip in first half spend

<p>HONG KONG: Major regional publications are bracing themselves for </p><p>more bad news after Competitive Media Reporting (CMR) reported a five </p><p>per cent adspend drop for the first half of the year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Adspend for the January to June period totalled US$159.6 million, </p><p>down from 2000's bumper revenue of $168.4 million. Global </p><p>economic uncertainties have been blamed for the decline. Regional titles </p><p>believe the situation will worsen before it improves. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Forbes Global Asia vice-president and managing director, Will </p><p>Adamopoulos, said: "Quarter one was alright for the industry. Quarter </p><p>two was slowing and quarter three is looking worse. For the year, I </p><p>would say we would be down seven or eight per cent, meaning that we </p><p>would have dropped about 10 per cent in the second half." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The actual revenue earned by the big regional newspapers and magazines </p><p>could be be lower than what has been reported for the first six months </p><p>because CMR cannot take discounts into account. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, a number of publishers insisted that CMR figures were not </p><p>wildly off the market because they had resisted discounting. Newsweek </p><p>International's regional advertising director, Theresa Yeung, said: </p><p>"What we are all careful of is avoiding a price war. We'd rather offer </p><p>more creative packages to clients. The idea is to work harder and </p><p>smarter." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Christina Chan, Business Week's regional director for Hong Kong, Taiwan </p><p>and the Philippines, added, "I don't see big discounting going on. But </p><p>clearly such a step would only be a temporary solution." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The publications are expecting that revenues will return to an even keel </p><p>by mid-2002. But some, like Newsweek's Yeung are hopeful of an earlier </p><p>recovery. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Part of me believes the fourth quarter will bounce back nicely. Another </p><p>part is not so optimistic because the general sentiments are not getting </p><p>better," she said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>ADVERTISING REVENUE REPORT (USdollars) </p><p> 2001 first-half 2000 first-half YOY (%) </p><p>National Geographic 2,513,858 1,551,400 62.0 </p><p>Fortune China 2,888,398 1,868,591 54.6 </p><p>Reader's Digest Asia 5,964,986 3,919,011 52.2 </p><p>Forbes Global 2,193,484 1,583,363 38.5 </p><p>International Herald Trib 10,057,207 9,936,375 1.2 </p><p>Time Asia 23,531,995 23,300,707 1.0 </p><p>Newsweek Asia 16,268,226 16,291,567 -0.1 </p><p>Far East Economic Review 7,829,194 8,033,605 -2.5 </p><p>Financial Times 4,242,990 4,498,705 -5.7 </p><p>The Economist 7,045,300 7,680,400 -8.3 </p><p>Source: CMR. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>