DUBLIN, Ireland — Consistent with a sputtering global economy, the World Association of Newspapers convened its 2003 annual conference under a gray mantle of drizzle and a surprise taxi strike that left attendees scurrying for alternative modes of transportation.

So it was only appropriate that the more than 1,200 newspaper executives in attendance heard that 2002 marked the first time in the past five years that worldwide circulation dipped, or that advertising revenues and newspapers’ share of ad investments dropped for a second year in a row.

Timothy Balding, director general for the World Association of Newspapers.
Photo: Mary L. Van Meter

But that assessment, delivered by Timothy Balding, WAN’s director general, was offset by a more optimistic picture painted by Martin Sorrell, chief executive officer of WPP, a United-Kingdom-based media and advertising analytical firm.

Sorrell said prospects should begin to brighten in 2004, fueled in part by the Summer Olympics and U.S. presidential election.

These events historically pump more money into the global economy, particularly into areas directly related to media and advertising, he said.

At the same time, emerging markets in such countries as Russia, China and Argentina could yield additional growth for papers oriented to those demographics. In China alone, the government has committed to spending more than $38 billion in infrastructure improvements as the nation prepares to host the 2008 Olympics.

Challenges consistent

Individual countries’ economic challenges notwithstanding, most papers face the same concerns, according to a survey of newspaper associations released during the conference.

The study, conducted by the Innovation International Media Consulting Group for WAN, found that most newspapers face the same three challenges: readership, distribution and advertising.

The survey was based on the responses of 40 newspaper association executives in 33 countries who were asked to rate the importance of 20 subjects on a scale of zero to 10.

The report indicated that the world’s press is most concerned with boosting circulation and readership, improving distribution and growing advertising at a time of widespread economic recession and strong competition from electronic media.

Half the respondents said an essential goal was to make Internet operations turn a profit; one-third cited government regulation and interference as a problem.

Lack of planning and investment were also mentioned as challenges.

Among other WAN findings:

• Worldwide advertising revenues fell 0.52 percent, the second consecutive year that’s occurred. More troubling, perhaps, is that newspapers’ share of the global advertising market also fell. After stabilizing in 2001, newspapers attracted only 30.8 percent of all ad dollars in 2002, down from 32.1 percent in 2000 and 2001. WAN attributed this drop to the growth of alternative media. In response, newspapers are diversifying their product mix, rolling out such demographically tailored editions as Chicago-based tabloids RedEye and Red Streak, produced by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, respectively.

• Newspapers’ online efforts are blossoming. Online consumption has more than tripled over the past four years. Almost 80 percent of newspapers now boast Web sites, up sharply from the 53 percent of newspapers that offered Web sites in 1998. The growth of Web sites is mirrored by a spurt in online advertising, which increased almost 10 percent last year. More growth is predicted, industry analysts said.

• Free newspapers are declining, as publishers react to cyclical changes in ad revenues. Ads placed in free copies declined in 2002, WAN said, although at a rate slower than the drop in ads in paid-for titles. Since 1997, the amount of advertising placed in free titles has grown more than 55 percent.

Paris-based WAN has a membership of more than 18,000 newspapers operating in more than 100 countries.