The Standard, Hong Kong’s second English-language daily, has suffered declining advertising revenue since the Hong Kong stock exchange’s (HKSE) decision to change the requirements regarding the reporting of company information.
Sing Tao will relaunch the title as a free daily, with a new brand identity and revamped content aimed at appealing to a mass audience. The print run will be increased from 45,000 to 120,000, and its rate card will also be adjusted upwards.
“I’m not sure whether it will succeed, but it’s their only chance to survive,” said one media agency chief who declined to be named. “The Standard has to boost its circulation and improve its readership.”
But The Standard marketing manager Lalaine Malupa defended the decision, saying it reflected a growing trend in newspapers globally.
“We’re still surviving, it’s not our last hurrah. It’s a worldwide trend, we’ve had a positive experience with Headline Daily (Sing Tao’s Chinese-language free daily) and we simply needed to re-evaluate our business model.”
Jackson Kwok, managing director of OMD Hong Kong, noted that another issue would be convincing Chinese-language speakers to read an English free daily.
