Press publishing market in 2022: 33 million copies sold dailies and 1.9 million weeklies – most popular “24 sata” and “Međimurje”

The Croatian Competition Agency (CCA) carried out its regular market investigation into the Croatian press publishing market in 2022 with the view to defining the market shares of the relevant market participants.

The market study included a total of 32 newspaper publishers and distributors. The market study included the following markets: press circulation (general information dailies and weeklies), print advertising in general information dailies and weeklies and press distribution in the territory of the Republic of Croatia.

The conducted research indicated that in 2022, compared to 2021, there was a less significant fall in the paid circulation of daily and weekly newspapers, which was more pronounced in the previous year compared to 2020, as well as a decline in advertising revenue, in contrast to the previous year 2021, when the rise in advertising revenue of dailies and weeklies was recorded.

This is a continuation of the negative trend in paid circulation and financial indicators in the market, albeit the reversed trend in the print retail that slightly rose in 2022 compared with 2021.

Compared to 2021, the drop in paid circulation in 2022 for general information dailies was 11 percent, and for weeklies 15 percent, which indicated a weakened negative trend in paid circulation compared with 2020. However, the weeklies showed a stronger negative trend in paid circulation (15 percent fall in 2022, five percent in 2021).

There were 33 million copies of general information dailies sold in Croatia in 2022, whereas weeklies sold in 1.9 million copies. The best sold papers in 2022 were of the newspaper publisher 24sata d.o.o. – the general information daily “24 sata”, and the general information weekly “Međimurje” published by List Međimurje d.o.o.

In 2022, a new weekly, “Zadarski tjednik”, appeared on the market, whereas “Bjelovarski list” and “Hrvatski tjednik” changed publishers.

In the print advertising market in 2022 compared to 2021, there was a downward trend in the dailies advertising market of 10 percent and of one percent with a reversed trend in the weeklies advertising market.

In the wholesale press distribution market, the undertaking Tisak plus d.o.o. from Zagreb remained the only press distributor at the national level. In 2022 it experienced a less pronounced revenue fall compared with the previous year. At the same time the number of its buyers in the press distribution resale continued to fall.

With respect to the press retail revenue there was a slight increase in the press retail revenue by 0.6 percent in 2022 compared with 2021, indicating a positive trend in this market reversing the negative trend and fall in the retail revenue by 10 percent in the press retail revenue in 2021.

Tisak plus and Inovine, with the largest number of specialized retail outlets, both recorded a decrease in the mentioned revenues, concretely, in percentage terms Tisak plus recorded a less pronounced decline in the press retail revenue than Inovine.

As a specialized press and tobacco products retailer Tisak plus owned 250 outlets in the territory of Croatia in 2022, which is 47 fewer outlets than in 2021 and indicated the ongoing negative trend in the number of outlets. The number of outlets owned by Inovine also decreased, concretely, by nine outlets.

In 2022, the publishers of general information dailies, which are most sold, slightly increased their press retail revenue through direct sales (subscription and partly newspaper hawkers). This is a relatively significant share if we observe the total of all market segments in the distribution supply chain of print to end consumers, because the combined press retail revenue of the largest newspaper publishers (Hanza Media Group and Styria Group) in 2022 amounted to HRK 100-110 million, whereas the combined revenue of the specialized newspapers dealers (Tisak plus d.o.o., Inovine d.d. and Fibis d.o.o.) in 2022 amounted to HRK 130-140 million.

In 2022, compared with 2021, four dailies’ publishers increased their subscription print retail revenue: Hanza Media d.o.o., 24sata d.o.o. with higher nominal increase, and Novi list d.d. and Glas Istre Novine d.o.o. (Glas Istre Group) with lower nominal increase in print retail revenue.

In the segment of weeklies, the highest subscription print retail revenue was recorded by the publishers Nacional News Corporation („Tjednik Nacional“), Lasica d.o.o. (weekly „Posavska Hrvatska) and Varaždinske vijesti d.d.

Sale on specialized newsstands (Tisak plus d.o.o., Inovine d.d. and Fibis d.o.o.) remained dominant with 54 percent share, with Tisak plus d.o.o. leading, which was a slight fall in comparison with 2021 when sale on newsstands held a 56 percent share in the total print retail revenue.

The largest publishers of general information dailies, Hanza Media Group and Styria Group, together with their publishers, recorded the largest number of electronic publications and the highest advertising revenues in digital publishing.

Regarding the number of electronic publications, the research found that the publisher Večernji list d.o.o. had 12 electronic publications in its portfolio, of which five were their own domains and seven were subdomains. Other member of Styria Group, 24sata d.o.o., had ten electronic publications, of which two were main domains and eight subdomains. Hanza Media d.o.o. listed ten electronic publications.

The highest revenue from advertising in electronic publications in 2022 was recorded by the publishers 24sata d.o.o., followed by Hanza Media d.o.o. and Večernji list d.o.o. The largest publishers of general information weeklies recorded a smaller number of electronic publications and revenues from advertising in them. For example, Nacional News Corporation d.o.o. had two electronic publications.