What’s in a print media brand?

The credibility of a publication on the market and the degree of influence it can exercise on its readership are key elements that come into play in the process of brand evaluation. Equally, size matters, and the readership, print run and coverage of the particular publication also have a bearing, media pundits tell Business Review.

By Otilia Haraga

When establishing the price of a mass-media brand, “we start with the value of the brand, the costs of production and distribution (subscriptions plus the number of copies) and the internal resources (the editorial team, marketing support and readers),” Gabriela Lupsa, senior buyer at Zenith Romania, tells Business Review.

They also mention another detail: unlike the national media, the distribution of the local press is not such a sensitive issue. Many local editors have their own distribution companies or teams, and distribution mostly refers to subscriptions.

In theory, the process of evaluating a press brand is similar to that of any other brand. However, certain elements must be taken into account, given that press products are not easily quantifiable.

“In the case of the press, a specific element, but one which is difficult to quantify, is the power of influence, which can be very closely connected to the performance of the brand over time, but also to its future potential,” Lupsa tells BR.

For potential investors in a publication, the key element is the market value of a publication, which results from revenues that come from the sale of the publication both to the readership and advertising clients.

The quality of the print, layout, flexibility of formats and degree of creativity in carrying out media projects are other media-specific elements.

“Worth mentioning too is another extremely important factor in local communities: the title’s power of influence in the city and county, from the political, electoral and social point of view,” says Lupsa.

Meanwhile, Andreea Dinescu, client service director at Initiative, tells BR she would rank the credibility of each title as paramount. “We are talking about a media vehicle which serves to inform readers, so the quality of the content and the elements connected to the image weigh a great deal in the balance,” she says.

Other considerations include the print quality, the extensiveness of the readership, the quality of its demographic profile, the print run, the area of coverage, the distribution and the rural-urban split, say pundits.

Such features are often inter-connected: a good title is often long established on the market, and has built up a loyal readership. On the other hand, the number of readers is closely connected to public awareness of the title, therefore also to the name of the publication, says Lupsa.

“We must also add the ‘weight of the pen’: the name of the editor-in-chief or writer of an editorial column can be reasons for readers to pick up one publication to the detriment of another. We do not believe any of these factors are less relevant in these times when the print press is fighting to remain on the market. Every element is important in the mix,” Lupsa adds.

Over the past few years, the local mass-media market has been reeling from various blows, from the general downward trend seen in the international media to the specifics of the local market.

“Worst affected seem to be the independent publications, irrespective of their frequency and profile. Though they may have quality content, the are reeling from the lack of support of a group or an investor,” says Lupsa.

According to Dinescu, the main casualties are the segments that “needed most corrections” anyway, such as glossy magazines for women of which “there were very many and not well differentiated from the point of view of the reader.”

Also suffering are fortnightly and weekly publications where information can appear obsolete due to the frequency at which they appear, because they are competing with a large quantity of information available for free on the internet. “Again, the quality of the content should be a major focus for publishers in order to justify the value attributed to print,” says Dinescu.

To fight the trend, the written press should focus on being different from the online environment, by delivering content analysis, investigations, points of view of opinion leaders, all under the mark of exclusivity and added-value to the user, says Dinescu. “However, this does not exclude integration with the online domain, as the two mediums are complementary,” she adds.

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