Monthly price can be just R$ 1.90; the 12 main Brazilian newspapers increase their subscriber base in 2023 on the internet from 1,105,627 to 1,664,952
An accounting methodological change in the IVC (Instituto Verificador de Comunicação) in 2023 allowed newspapers to consider how subscribers whoever pays at least R$1.90. Before, the rule was different: it would only be valid if the subscription was 10% of the total price it would cost to buy the vehicle from a dealer for 30 days.
In this way, the main Brazilian daily newspapers boosted their subscriber portfolios, especially the online versions. In practice, these microsubscription subscribers already existed. Now, they began to be publicized and there was an impression of growth – something that, in practice, did not occur, as will be seen later in this report.
Due to the change in IVC methodology, a survey on the circulation of 12 relevant vehicles shows that the number of paid readers on the internet rose from 1,105,627 in December 2022 to 1,664,952 in December 2023. high accounting a significant 50.6%.
The newspaper Folha de S.Paulo pulled the line. As of December 2021, it has 296,885 digital subscribers. 2023 ended with an increase of 154.5%, showing a paid readership of 755,547. The newspaper The globe had a smaller but also relevant increase of 12%, increasing its digital subscribers from 310,607 to 347,760.
The paulista The State of S.Paulo it went from 153,179 paid readers for its digital version in December 2022 to 193,353 in December 2023, an increase of 26.2%. Another traditional newspaper, the Economic valueof Globo Groupwas not as successful with the new methodology used by the IVC (Communication Verifier Institute): its online subscriber portfolio grew 5% in 2023, from 116,631 to 122,422.
O Zero hour of Porto Alegre (RS), 5th vehicle placed in the rankingwent from 94,373 in 2022 to 114,203 in 2023 – an increase of 21%.
These variations began to be more striking, in fact, from June to July 2023. It was at this turn of the month that newspapers were able to start counting subscribers who paid very low promotional prices.
O Sheet until published In August 2023, a news item on its website celebrating the change: “IVC changes calculation for subscriptions; Folha is the leader in circulation”. He celebrated the positive result again on Sunday (21 January), in an announcement in the printed version – which considered the average for the year, and not the end of December, as the Power360 he does.
The infographic below shows when these circulation accounting jumps were, with Sheet, Globe It is Estadão pulling the line at the beginning of the 2nd semester of last year:
The information above shows, however, something that is not so positive for newspapers: from July to December 2023, the growth or decline in digital subscribers for some large outlets was marginal.
It is also important to note that Brazil has 203 million inhabitants. The 12 most traditional newspapers together have 1.665 million digital subscribers. This equates to just 0.82% of the population.
From December 2022 to December 2023, the Sheet had gained 458,662 subscribers after July’s “growth spectacle.”
O Globe added 37,153 paid readers. At the Estadão, the variation was also positive, 26%. At the Valuewas more timid, but also favorable, at 5%.
These changes from July to December, after considering the data boosted by the IVC, indicate that the digital circulation of traditional Brazilian daily journalistic vehicles had little evolution in 2023.
Below, the graph with the total number of digital subscriptions, year by year, from 2017 to now. The demonstration effect is positive for newspapers, as only the average numbers of paid readers appear at the end of each year. Anyone who only looks at the total numbers for 2023 may have the impression that some dailies have made great progress. In reality, they only started to consider subscribers who paid amounts starting from 1% of the total that a reader would spend if they bought the newspaper for 30 days at a newsstand:
PRINTED: CONTINUOUS FALL
The change in subscriber accounting had no impact on the readership of printed versions of Brazilian newspapers, which have been in continuous decline for two decades.
O State of S. Paulo fell from 60,446 subscribers to its print version in December 2022 to 56,356 in December 2023 (down 6.8%). O Globe ended last year with 52,933 paper subscribers (12.9% reduction). A Sheet has 41,401 (down 13.9%). O Economic value prints only 13,052 paper copies per day (down 10.2% compared to 2022).
The trend, as shown in the table above, is an accelerated reduction in the number of printed newspapers in a few years. It is impossible to say how long this process will last. Octavio Frias de Oliveira (1912-2007), who was publisher from the Folha de S.Pauloused to say that, after dying, a great newspaper still survives for about 10 years or even longer.
Several daily media outlets around the world are suffering from this drop in readers interested in reading news on paper. The North American New York Times It currently has less than 700 thousand subscribers for its printed version and around 7 million for its digital version. Of the approximately 800 journalists based at the outlet's headquarters in New York, 100 are dedicated exclusively to the paper version. The rest focus on digital.
THE CHANGE OF IVC
The Communication Verification Institute is responsible for auditing newspaper sales, but is heavily influenced by the communication companies themselves. It is the newspapers that pay the institution's bills.
In July 2023, IVC responded to a request from newspapers and changed the way it counts subscribers. Previously, it would only be valid if the subscription was 10% of the total price it would cost to buy the vehicle from a dealer for 30 days. After the change, the minimum value of R$ 1.90.
This change allowed newspapers to start, overnight, officially incorporating tens of thousands of subscribers who were previously unaccounted for, but were already paying small amounts to have access to digital versions of publications.
This decision was a reaction from the media outlets upon realizing that, in June 2023, traditional Brazilian newspapers had recorded the first drop in their digital subscriber bases, as published by the Power360. The episode scared everyone. The IVC agreed to change the way it counts who is a subscriber.
In the case of Folha de S.Paulo, for example, in June 2023, a reader who bought 30 editions of the newspaper at a newsstand would have to pay a total of R$195.00. Only those who paid at least R$19.50 per month were considered subscribers. With the new rule, readers who pay R$1.90 per month (around 1% of the monthly newsstand purchase) now join the newspaper's subscriber list.
In this way, digital subscribers of the Sheet they immediately jumped from 295,176 in June 2023 to 752,019 in July of the same year (as shown in the infographic a little above this post). O Globe it went from 287,024 in June to 325,598 in July.
In short, the general accounting shows some of the main Brazilian newspapers with a very positive balance when comparing the average number of digital subscribers in December 2023 with that in December 2022. In practice, however, everything indicates that these paid reader bases it remained practically in the same place for the entire last year – what happened was a mere change in the way subscribers are counted.
This practice of considering subscribers who pay low amounts is common in several newspapers around the world. The newspaper New York Timesthe most traditional in the United States and one of the most influential on the planet, also has promotions in which it sells its subscriptions for just $1 per month promotionally and for a limited time. O NYTimes recently passed the mark of more than 10 million subscribers. Like most vehicles, it does not say how many are already paying for the full subscription and how many are still in the promotional period and paying much lower amounts.
The fact is that a digital subscriber costs a newspaper very little. There is no need to print it on paper and send it to the reader's home. Communication companies are gradually realizing that it is more worthwhile to charge little and have many subscribers than to increase the value and have fewer readers in their portfolios.
The practice of giving access to the reader for a small fee has a clear economic logic, which can be summarized in 4 points:
- more subscribers at low cost – the number of readers grows faster and the cost is small. The access system already exists and having a larger audience does not increase expenses as in the past, when a new subscriber would have to receive the printed version of the publication at home;
- more advertisers – with more readers, it is possible to attract more advertisers and try, little by little, to increase the price charged for this advertising;
- most qualified readers – no matter how small the amount paid, the subscriber differs from the reader who only consumes news without paying. The “paid subscriber” tends to be more qualified, loyal and likely to be a more active consumer and, consequently, may attract more advertisers;
- microdata and targeted ads – when subscribing, even for a low fee, the reader provides their details – gender, age and place of residence, for example. This information is used internally by newspapers to publish advertisements more effectively: targeting advertising to a specific audience in a region, only for men, only for women, by age group, etc. This practice also optimizes the results of advertising.
Poder360 PUBLISHES FULL
read in this link IVC data on print, digital and total circulation (print + digital) from 2015 to 2013.
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