Category Archives: newspapers

Le Monde: a blueprint of a turnaround

January 9, 2011 – 6:29 pm

TweetThe iconic French newspaper Le Monde is about to begin a new chapter of its complicated history. Last September, what remains France’s most influential paper changed hands (see previous Monday Note Le Monde’s escape velocity and story in NY Times’ DealBook). Le Monde is now owned by a triumvirate: Xavier Niel, a telecom entrepreneur, provided [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in journalism | Comments (15)

Key Success Factors for a tablet-only “paper”

November 29, 2010 – 12:16 am

TweetCan it fly? Last week, Rupert Murdoch announced he was plotting a tablet-only newspaper. Or rather, an iPad-only paper — at first; other tablets would follow. The Daily, as it is to be called (how modest and innovative) is to be blessed by Steve Jobs Himself at a media event introducing the new venture. Initially, [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in online publishing | Comments (16)

Expanding Into New Territories

October 24, 2010 – 9:34 pm

TweetIn defining business strategies for modern medias such as online newspapers, the most difficult part is finding the right combination of revenue streams. Advertising, pay-per-view, flat fee… All are part of the new spectrum media companies now have to deal with. The gamut looks like this: As we can see, newspapers mostly consist of one [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in advertising, online publishing | Tagged | Comments (25)

New media valuations metrics

September 26, 2010 – 5:18 pm

TweetOn September 22, the Norwegian media group Schibsted announced a transaction to make it the sole owner of the French free classifieds site LeBonCoin.fr. The valuation for the deal? €400m ($540m). I must admit it : I fell from my chair(*). Not that I look down at Le Bon Coin, au contraire. In a previous [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Tagged , | Comments (10)

Too many journalists ?

July 11, 2010 – 9:37 am

TweetAn unpleasant question: Do we have an excess of daily press journalists? And, if so, how does the surfeit vary from country to country? Two years ago, Earl Wilkinson, the managing director of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA), produced a chart showing how the growth in the number of journalists employed by US dailies [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (91)

Le Monde’s escape velocity

June 27, 2010 – 4:17 pm

TweetIn rocket scientist parlance, escape velocity is the speed needed to break free from Earth’s gravitational field. Last Friday, by an overwhelming majority, Le Monde’s staff voted to escape the black hole of French politics — or, at least, to give their paper the  best chance to do so. Disassembling the utterly complex chain of [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Tagged | Comments (7)

Le Monde on The Brink

June 20, 2010 – 11:19 pm

TweetWithin two weeks, the French newspaper Le Monde will run out of cash. By this Monday at noon, candidates to the takeover of the most prestigious French daily will have disclosed their offers. By June 28, the staff will vote and make the final decision for the fate of the 66 years-old paper. More importantly, [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in journalism | Tagged | Comments (52)

Managing the magazine component of newspapers

March 21, 2010 – 8:42 pm

TweetThis is the second part of a series about the evolution of print media. Part I here. A few years ago, the founder of the French daily Liberation was asked what he would do if he had unlimited resources to run his paper: “I would do a magazine everyday”, he said. During the late 80′s, [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in journalism, magazines | Tagged , | Comments (9)

Euthanazing the paper? Not yet.

March 14, 2010 – 6:10 pm

TweetI love this year-old Warren Buffet quote: “If Mr. Gutenberg had come up with the Internet instead of movable type back in the late 15th century, and for 400 years we had used the Internet for news and all types of entertainment and all kinds of everything else, and I came along one day and [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Comments (24)

The 2010 Media Watch List

January 3, 2010 – 6:22 pm

TweetNo predictions, just a few of many hot topics for the newborn year. Paywalls. 2010 could see a significant number of newspapers jumping into the paid-for option. Among the conditions to be met: – Grouping around a toll collector. It could be Journalism Online in the US, a big media group in Europe, or even [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in advertising, magazines, mobile internet, online publishing | Tagged , | Comments (13)