Seek the detailed introduction and media analysis report of Minnan edition of Straits Metropolis Daily.

Fuzhou to Quanzhou,154km; From Quanzhou to Xiamen, 82 kilometers; In 2004, this "first-line three-point" GDP accounted for 2/3 of Fujian Province.

Interestingly, the density of billboards along Quanzhou-Xiamen expressway is much higher than that of Fuquan Expressway. Located in Minnan, one of the most dynamic areas in China, newspapers in Xiamen and Quanzhou once enjoyed an ultra-high gross profit margin of nearly 70%, which was regarded as an opportunity for media development. ...

On the other hand, although compared with Xiamen and Quanzhou, Fuzhou does not have an absolute advantage in economic aggregate and population, and its economic radiation is limited, the newspaper industry in Fuzhou still occupies a unique political and cultural resource.

The specific geopolitical and economic structure has promoted the initial formation and continuous evolution of the regional market of Fuxia Quanxia newspaper industry. Since 1997, the provincial capital newspapers, represented by the sub-newspaper of Fujian Daily, have experienced Zhang Zhilu expansion from spontaneous to conscious, while the local newspapers in Xiamen and Quanzhou have continuously expanded themselves and even expanded outward. ...

Change is born from this.

1997 in the early summer, most college graduates have finalized their jobs and left school after preparing their thesis defense. The male dormitory of the Chinese Department of Xiamen University is crowded with people, and the students are debating whether to give up the contractor and go to a newly established newspaper. The passion of starting a business permeates many people's faces. The Straits Metropolis Daily, published in June 1 997+1October1,is the first urban newspaper founded by Fujian Daily. Many changes in Fujian newspaper market began with the birth of this newspaper.

■ 1997-2000, Fuzhou, the birth of the new newspaper.

At the beginning of its publication, Straits Metropolis Daily pursued the "province-wide strategy", centering on Fuzhou, and continued to expand outward. Straits Metropolis Daily divides its distribution scope into four areas: A, B, C and D: Area A is Fuzhou City; Area B is the Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou triangle in southern Fujian; Area C is eight suburban counties in Fuzhou; Area D is an inland city such as Nanping and Sanming. Among them, the total circulation of area A and area B accounts for 80% of the total circulation. This "point-to-surface combination" method laid a good foundation for the success of Straits Metropolis Daily.

Compared with the start-up cost of 2.5 million yuan, a policy implemented by Fujian Daily in the initial stage of Straits Metropolis Daily is obviously more strategic-giving Straits Metropolis Daily independent legal personality and allowing it to operate independently and be responsible for its own profits and losses.

The growth track of Straits Metropolis Daily is almost the same as that of similar newspapers in other cities. Attract readers' attention with social news and entertainment news, vigorously develop the morning self-funded market with self-run distribution, and promote advertising sales with perfect advertising agency system and event planning. Some major news events have become the nodes of the Straits Metropolis Daily. For example, during the France 1998 World Cup, the newspaper took the opportunity to expand the edition to 16 (basically the same as the evening paper), and made many football articles, and the newspaper sales quickly exceeded 60,000 copies; At the end of the year, Straits Metropolis Daily broke even; In 2002, the advertising revenue was 80 million.

Before the publication of Straits Metropolis Daily, Fuzhou Evening News, the organ newspaper of Fuzhou Municipal Committee, had been running for 15 years, occupying more than half of the newspaper market in Fuzhou. From 65438 to 0997, the advertising business of Fuzhou Evening News exceeded 50 million yuan, which was at the first-class level among similar newspapers in China.

Facing the strong rise of Straits Metropolis Daily, Fuzhou Evening News took a series of countermeasures. 1in may, 1998, Fuzhou evening news printing plant introduced printing equipment and put into production the most advanced color production line in Fujian province. During the World Cup, the Golden Edition of the World Cup was also expanded and published early, adding 30 newspaper retail outlets in Fuzhou to make up for the disadvantage of publishing time.

In the competition, Fuzhou Evening News began to review its own unfavorable factors: first, it had to assume the function of organ newspaper and compete directly with metropolis daily; Second, it is published in the afternoon, and the retail time is short, which is not conducive to competing for the retail market.

1 September 9981Sunday, Fuzhou Evening News met readers in the form of morning edition and afternoon edition. 1 June1day, Fuzhou Daily was officially founded and assumed the function of organ newspaper, and Fuzhou Evening News was officially revised.

Holding the attitude of trying one's hand in the market, the newly established Fuzhou Daily emphasized that "the party newspaper should also make a difference in the market, and the policy of promoting the main theme should not be shaken, but its expressions should be varied, and the activities of the municipal party committee and government should be reported according to the news law"; In the employment system, most employees of Fuzhou Daily are recruited by the society. In operation, we set up a separate distribution team to expand real estate advertising and undertake the Fuzhou Housing Fair. ...

Relying on the advantages and institutional innovation of the party newspaper, Fuzhou Daily quickly turned losses into profits, and Fuzhou Evening News also carried out the reform of editing and editing, employment system and distribution structure. For example, in the post of "two-way employment", newspapers in eight counties (cities) in Fuzhou will be distributed by the post office, and the urban area will be kept to be distributed by itself, focusing on urban readers.

However, it goes without saying that due to the historical inertia, the policy of running Fuzhou Evening News wavered between the traditional organ newspaper and the metropolis daily, paying insufficient attention to the Straits Metropolis Daily, and the defensive measures were not effective enough, which greatly delayed the grafting of the brand advantage of the Evening News to the new newspaper and destroyed valuable intangible assets to some extent. With the further expansion of the Straits Metropolis Daily and the new newspaper's participation in the Battle Group, the advertisements of Fuzhou Evening News have declined.

In 2000, Straits Metropolis Daily claimed a circulation of 200,000, and the development of the newspaper reached its first peak after its birth. On September 24th, Fujian Haidu Media Co., Ltd. was established to develop extended industries, and reached a bank-enterprise cooperation agreement with the business department of China Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Fujian Branch with a credit of 600 million yuan, which was the best in the national media and became a sensational news for a while. In addition, it is planned to start packaging and listing the company. These ideas failed to come true for various reasons, but its strong expansion momentum painted a huge imagination space for Fujian newspaper market, which excited other newspapers.

On June 6, 2000, Fujian Economic Express successfully raised funds from a state-owned enterprise and embarked on the road of comprehensive metropolis daily. On August 28th of the same year, Southeast Express, a subsidiary of Fujian Branch of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, was published.

Facing the situation of "wolves around", Fuzhou Evening News expanded its edition twice in one year. In order to solve the shortage of funds brought by the expansion of the edition, the newspaper decided to raise the advertising price; This price increase was later questioned by Fujian newspaper peers, which led some advertisers to switch to other newspapers. 200 1 1 13, Fuzhou Evening News was published in the morning, and it joined the morning paper market.

The newspaper market in Fuzhou presents a trend of "things are as new as chess".

■ From 2000 to 2004, it competed for Fuzhou.

Fujian economic express is out.

At first, at least from the perspective of running a newspaper, Fujian Economic Express tried to implement differentiated competition, and it proposed to cover high-end readers with mainstream news. In operation, relying on the investment of partners, Fujian Economic Express adopted a strong expansion strategy, and the newspaper quickly changed from Friday issue to daily newspaper, and the layout increased from four pages to eight pages.

But at the same time of cost expansion, these efforts failed to bring about the year-on-year growth of advertising business. Even more deadly is the accumulated debt problem.

In order to preserve assets, in 2003, Fuzhou Evening News Printing Factory, the largest creditor of Fujian Economic Express (* * * creditor's right1more than RMB 0,000,000) filed a lawsuit with the court. At the beginning of April, the court froze the property and capital accounts of Fujian Economic Express according to law, and the capital chain of the newspaper broke.

On June 6, 2003, Fujian Economic Express announced the closure of its publication after three years of publication. This has triggered the reflection of Fujian newspaper people: what kind of scale and speed is the reasonable expansion strategy.

The exit of Fujian Economic Express has a great influence on Fuzhou newspaper industry. Most of its readers have been accepted by Southeast Express. The creditor's rights of more than 6,543,800,000 yuan in Fuzhou Evening News have not been preserved, which is a heavy blow to the evening news that is in urgent need of funds. In the ups and downs, Southeast Express won the first opportunity.

Southeast Express Challenge

In March 2003, Southeast Express successfully persuaded several key figures in the circulation department of Straits Metropolis Daily to switch to this camp. This matter was widely spread in the national newspapers through the Internet, which was regarded as the prelude to the competition and upgrading of Fuzhou newspapers, but it also aroused the strong vigilance of the Straits Metropolis Daily.

On New Year's Day, 2004, Southeast Express was rectified several times by adjusting the editorial outline and reforming the incentive mechanism, and its layout was expanded to 36 pages per day, which was basically the same as that of Straits Metropolis Daily. In May, Southeast Express provoked a distribution war, doubling the price of subscription promotional items during the May 1 Golden Week, hoping to push the circulation to a new level before the advertising season.

At the same time, Southeast Express launched the distribution concept of "Fuzhou+Xiamen" and increased its investment in Xiamen, claiming to win 40,000 copies of circulation to counter the distribution concept of "Fuzhou+Quanzhou" of Straits Metropolis Daily. For a time, more than 30 employees of Straits Metropolis Daily lost their jobs. Some netizens said on BBS: "Fuzhou newspaper industry has entered a state of war."

Facing the challenge, Straits Metropolis Daily responded quickly while stabilizing its ranks. On March 3, 2004, a large-scale revision and expansion were carried out, CI design was strengthened, and the first page of reading guide was implemented; Newspapers were stacked to make it easier for readers to read ... In terms of distribution, in May, they retaliated against their opponents with a distribution promotion war called "Cool in Early Summer".

In the one-on-one attack and defense, Straits Metropolis Daily held its ground and got rid of the slow growth in 2000-2002. The number of subscriptions in the five districts of Fuzhou has increased significantly, and the highest circulation in the province claims to reach 400,000. At the same time, the advertising growth rate reached an all-time high. In 2003, the advertising revenue of Straits Metropolis Daily exceeded 1 billion for the first time. In 2004, the advertising revenue was as high as 65.438+0.7 billion yuan, an increase of 47% compared with 2003 (according to a reporter's investigation, the total advertising revenue of newspapers in the province increased by about 20% year-on-year).

Southeast Express also expanded successfully, and its circulation increased greatly. It is reported that if Xiamen's huge distribution subsidy is not counted, Southeast Express should have a slight surplus in 2004.

In the most competitive "2003-2004 season" of Fuzhou newspaper industry, the changes of people flow and capital flow were intertwined with "war of words", which attracted the attention of colleagues all over the country for a time; At the same time, problems such as "one journal and two journals" and financing methods have gradually surfaced, adding a lot of uncertainty to the competition.

■ Competition points to southern Fujian.

The layout of provincial newspaper groups in southern Fujian

Xiamen is an important target market of Straits Metropolis Daily in its early days. From 65438 to 0997, Straits Metropolis Daily set up a considerable editing and management branch in Xiamen. On March 9th, 1999, Fujian Daily moved one of its heavily loss-making newspapers to Xiamen, invested 4 million yuan to establish Straits Herald and took over the local market share of Straits Metropolis Daily.

The Straits Metropolis Daily then shifted the focus of Minnan's development to Quanzhou and founded the Quanzhou local edition. On June 30th, 2004, the Minnan edition of Straits Metropolis Daily was published as an independent serial number, and more than 60 Minnan news editions were distributed in Quanzhou every week, and the enjoy edition of Straits Metropolis Daily was distributed in Minnan.

At first, the mode of realizing differentiated competition of sub-reports through geographical distribution may stem from the passive purpose of transforming loss-making sub-reports. However, with the gradual clarification of the market structure, the strategic significance of this move has gradually become clear-

First of all, the urbanization level of Fuzhou-Quanzhou-Xiamen ranks first in China, but the population of central cities is generally small. As the provincial capital, Fuzhou has a population of just over 2 million. The limited capacity of the city is the driving force for the expansion in different places.

Secondly, at present, there are 20 industrial clusters with a scale of more than 3 billion yuan (output value) in Fujian Province, including 5 in Fuzhou, 2 in Xiamen and 10 in Quanzhou. The economic development level of the three places is close, and the degree of economic integration is high. Economic identity is an objective condition for expansion in different places.

In August 2002, after the establishment of Fujian Daily Newspaper Group, the adjustment speed of the group layout was obviously accelerated. Chen Yiqing, deputy director of the Propaganda Department of Fujian Provincial Party Committee and president of Fujian Daily Newspaper Group, said frankly: The suspension of publication of Fujian Economic Express, a loose subsidiary newspaper of the group, made him consider many issues-homogeneous competition of newspapers in the same city, how to avoid risks of sub-newspapers, reasonable development speed of the group, future development direction and so on.

The layout of "one line and three points" of the provincial newspaper group in Fujian's richest coastal areas is intuitively reflected in the establishment and expansion of printing plants. After the establishment of the group, the provincial newspaper group invested 1 100 million yuan to transform Fuzhou printing center; At the same time, there are also printing plants in Xiamen and Quanzhou. Economically, the three printing houses contributed a profit of17.65 million yuan to the group in 2004. More importantly, they have accumulated tangible material resources for the expansion of the group's subsidiaries in different places, showing the firm determination of the group's expansion.

Xiamen change

As the organ of the Municipal Party Committee, in 2004, Xiamen Daily was expanded to 24 editions with an average daily publication, and its self-funded subscription rate was as high as 78%, which is the top data of two similar media in China. (Xiamen has a population of 200 Wan Qiang, of which the registered population is 1.3 million; However, the "registered population on the island" with the most gold content in newspaper management is only over 600,000. In theory, there is a copy of Xiamen Daily for every five "registered population on the island". )

In 2004, the total advertising revenue of Xiamen Daily's newspapers exceeded 65.438+0.5 billion, of which Xiamen Daily accounted for about 80%, making it the only newspaper in the province to enter the top 300 taxpayers (ranking 86th), and it is also in the forefront of similar media in China. This achievement is due to the brand advantages accumulated by Xiamen Daily in the past 56 years. In fact, before the publication of Straits Herald 1999, Xiamen Daily enjoyed Xiamen almost exclusively. ...

200 1, 1 1, Straits Herald continuously published advertisements to create momentum for revision and expansion; In that month, it was expanded from quarto 16 to the 24th edition. At the same time, we will fine-tune the editing and publishing policy, shrink the editing and publishing power of Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, concentrate superior resources to strengthen original news and local news, and strive to integrate into and seize the local market in Xiamen. That year, The Straits Herald made a small profit.

In the following two years, Straits Herald introduced the advertising agency system, taking classified advertising and exhibition planning as the breakthrough to expand the advertising space. In the process of expanding the edition, we plan to "news into the community" by setting up a "community news edition" and promoting family subscription.

In 2004, the advertising revenue of Straits Herald increased by 20 million (up 60% year-on-year), reaching a record high of 52 million, and high-quality advertisements such as real estate began to increase substantially.

Facing the competition of Straits Herald, Xiamen Daily, which is in the leading position, has maintained its strong position by establishing a long-term mechanism for news reform. 200 1 10 22, Xiamen daily celebrated its day, and Xiamen daily opened a "reader's day", at the same time, it expanded its layout, introduced the advanced concepts of metropolis daily and strengthened "more dynamic news". Five rounds of revision and expansion so far have effectively strengthened the team's market awareness and kept its self-funded subscription rate above 70%. A typical example is that in order to improve the visual effect of the layout, Xiamen Daily has set up a layout director, which can be described as a "pioneer" among similar newspapers.

However, it is an indisputable fact that the distribution structure with subscriptions accounting for more than 90% reduces the appeal of Xiamen Daily in the retail market. Its Xiamen Evening News is tied to the daily newspaper, and the coincidence rate of the two issues is as high as 95%, which is also not very important in the retail market; Another newspaper, Xiamen Business Daily, is still in the red.

The blank of retail market has left market space for Straits Herald to go through a difficult initial period in 1999-200 1.

At present, in Xiamen's retail market, most of the Straits Herald, Straits Metropolis Daily, Southeast Express and Southeast Morning Post under Quanzhou Daily entrust the team trained by Straits Herald to retail, and one yuan buys the quotation structure of two newspapers, which makes the retail market appear "competition+tying". The competitive relationship between newspapers is both mutually restrictive and stable.

As a challenger and leader in the retail market, an important task of Straits Herald is still to expand and stabilize the subscription volume in order to obtain a high-quality audience. With the adjustment of distribution structure, the proportion of retail sales of Straits Herald in circulation on the island has gradually decreased (about 50% in 2003; In 2004, it was around 30%, and the absolute number also declined. At present, according to the data provided by all parties, it can be roughly inferred that the total retail sales of newspapers in Xiamen Island is only about 1/6 of the total subscription.

It remains to be seen how the retail market in Xiamen can break the deadlock.

In 2005, the advertising growth target of Xiamen Daily was set at 65,438+00%. Considering its base, this should be a fairly good performance expectation. The growth forecast of Straits Metropolis Daily is160,000. The growth expectations of the two competitors are not much different. But for Xiamen Daily, staying strong doesn't mean forever strong. According to Fujian newspaper sources, Xiamen Daily is exploring introducing state-owned capital into financing business within the policy framework and transforming one of its subsidiaries to cope with the competition of Straits Herald.

Quanzhou Evening News bashed head-on.

Quanzhou Evening News, founded on 1985, is the organ newspaper of Quanzhou Municipal Committee. As a party newspaper named after Evening News, it has always emphasized the combination of "Party newspaper and Evening News". Before Straits Metropolis Daily entered Quanzhou, the profit rate of Quanzhou Evening News was as high as 70%.

On August 15, 2000, Quanzhou Evening News published Southeast Morning Post, striving to build a regional metropolis newspaper with the concept of "based on Quanzhou and southern Fujian", improving the newspaper structure and stabilizing the market share by "strengthening the parent newspaper and developing the sub-newspaper". At this time, the circulation of Straits Metropolis Daily in Quanzhou has exceeded 50,000.

At the same time, the "Minnan concept" makes the Southeast Morning Post issue in Xiamen need a subsidy of 7-8 million yuan every year, while the advertising income from Xiamen is only about 6.5438+0 million yuan every year.

Many colleagues in Fujian newspaper industry questioned that this move was "homogeneous competition" and "put the money in the left pocket in the right pocket". However, Shi Nengquan, editor-in-chief of Quanzhou Evening News, replied, "Southeast Morning Post wants to grab the market tit for tat. If the so-called differentiated competition is carried out, the market will be handed over. For the whole newspaper, as long as it is1+1>; 1 Not bad. Although the establishment of Southeast Morning Post has reduced the profit rate of the newspaper, it is hard to say whether Quanzhou Evening News can' hold on' in the future without this newspaper occupying and consolidating the market. "

After several years of operation, Southeast Morning Post achieved rapid growth in 2004. The number of editions was expanded from the 32nd edition of quarto at the beginning of the year to the 56-64th edition at the end of the year, and the circulation increased by more than 60%. The paid-in amount of advertisements for the whole year was 39.28 million yuan, which basically achieved the balance of payments in that year. In that year, the advertising revenue of Quanzhou Evening News reached 73.08 million yuan, and the total profit was 30 million yuan.

However, according to industry analysis, the Southeast Morning Post made Quanzhou Evening News lose at least 6.5438+million yuan in profits.

It is worth mentioning that the competition with Southeast Express in 2003-2004 caused more than 20 people to lose the editing right of Straits Metropolis Daily in Quanzhou. It was not until March this year that the number of local news pages of Minnan edition of Straits Metropolis Daily gradually returned to normal, which delayed the expansion of Minnan edition of Straits Metropolis Daily in Quanzhou to some extent and objectively became the Southeast Morning Post.

Even so, the Minnan edition of Straits Metropolis Daily claims that Quanzhou has a circulation of 6.5438+0.4 million copies, which has a good influence. As a newborn of the provincial newspaper group, the investment scale, development ideas and management mode of the Straits Metropolis Daily Minnan Edition have not yet been finalized. In addition, the provincial newspaper group has a Shishi Daily in Quanzhou. ...