Singapore press market to get boost from SPH with two new mass titles

The Lion City's only mass circulation newspaper publisher is rolling out two titles: Project Eyeball and Streats, in a bid to diversify its advertising revenue stream and readership profile. Targeted at young people aged 20 to 40, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) will launch the mass daily title, Project Eyeball, which will go online on the group's Asia1.com platform. With a target circulation of 25,000 to 35,000 copies in the initial year, Project Eyeball could increase its penetration to 100,000 copies in five years' time. Advertising rates have yet to be finalised, but it is expected to be between the rates charged by The Strait Times and The Business Times. Project Eyeball will likely try to capture a share of the burgeoning IT advertising pie, Grey Advertising media manager Dolly Yeo said. With the online version, Ms Yeo reckoned the group will offer more value added sales packages which combine print and online advertising. As The Strait Times has long dominated the mass daily newspaper scene in the Republic, Ms Yeo noted the launch of a new daily title will add spice to the market. She said SPH also wanted to diversify and expand its revenue streams by launching more new titles in the marketplace. Meanwhile, SPH will also roll out a free morning tabloid newspaper, called Streats, in September. To be distributed on newsstands and fast food outlets as early as 6:30am for commuters, the free tabloid newspaper expects to have a circulation of about 200,000 copies. It is understood that Streats is to compete with another yet-to-be-launched free tabloid title, Today, which will be published by Media Corporation of Singapore. Today will be targeted at commuters on MRT trains and public buses. Despite the fact that SPH still dominates the print media in Singapore, media directors said the launch of more titles would add more dynamism in the market and create new opportunities and flexibility to advertisers. CIA Medianetwork general manager Bertilla Teo said the move towards greater media segmentation was good because it gave advertisers more choice when targeting niche markets. As Project Eyeball will offer offline and online versions for readers, Ms Teo said the paper needed to strike a balance between its online and offline distribution to safeguard its subscription base. SPH already has a 53 per cent share of the total media adspend in Singapore, according to Ms Teo, who believed the government will not grant another newspaper license in the immediate future. The Singapore government recently issued two media licences: one for newspaper and one for broadcast. Last year, there was speculation that a second publishing group would launch a second mass daily title to compete with The Strait Times. However, the newspaper licence was finally granted to SPH. SPH's net profit grew 44 per cent to S$201.6 million (US$119.6 million, according to Merill Lynch's media report, which projected the group's earnings growth at 20 per cent for the next two years. The growth was supported by robust advertising and good cost control, Merill Lynch reported: "We believe SPH's core business is strong due to the economic rebound and deregulation in the financial and telecoms sector."

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