Singapore Press Holdings (SPH)

[Greenrookie]

In 2000, the Straits Times daily average circulation is around 390,363.
In 2012, the daily circulation is 389,700.

What is the difference between 2000 and 2012?
The population in 2000 and 2012 is 4 million and 5.2 million respectively.

So despite an increase of more than 25% in population, the average circulation now is less than 2000.

SPH is generally regarded to be pro-gov and therefore, it has difficulty acquiring overseas media companies for expansion.
Singtel, Capitaland and Keppel do not have this limitation.
Any expansion of SPH business must be in non-media related fields.

Mediacorp faces the same problem but it is not listed.

The 2012 circulation figures include digital subscription, and given they give digital access to those who subscript to the ST, there may be some overlapping. Print subscription is about 355K IIRC.

I think the core question is, are there true alternatives to advertising through the SPH papers, to get to the masses at a lower costs. The issue is not so much of circulation but of advertisement fees. If you noticed, the "display" advertisements from the Telcos, NTUC, etc are often found in ST, lianhezaobao, and "TODAY"(Not from SPH), I am not sure which digital platform has such reach compared to papers taken as a whole together.

But if you talk about "classified" and "recruits", I think these 2 segments are especially at risk. If I want to buy a property, I willl look at the various websites first, before I check my papers.

The numbers bear this out too:
During the weak 2008 Q4 to 2009 Q1 to Q4, classified and recruits suffered the biggest drop as compared to display, when the weak recovery starts in 2010, total advertisement rev is smaller than 2012 and 2013 YTD, but classified's revenue is higher in 2010 than in 2012 and 2013 YTD.

The bleeding is at the "classified" and "recruits", and hence, this explained why SPH is buying SGcarmart, and the likes...(They are finally getting it)

But seriously, while I think the bleeding is going to be slow... (classified share of rev is now only 25%), I doubt it can be reversed. Unless they are able to also buy ebay and the likes hahaha

SO to slow the bleed, they need to start buying some platforms of leadership position (sg carmart is a good example), maybe property guru? Hardwarezone is it under SPH? But how many online platforms can have the reach like sgcarmart, they want to buy, also have no proper targets, such is their pain...