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TREND IN MALAYSIA
Similar trends are seen here as well. The role of the
Internet and social media has changed the newspaper
industry in the country forever. Currently, news contents
can be obtained in various platforms. You have the print
version, online version, Twitter, Instagram and also
Facebook.
According to a report issued by the Audit Bureau of
Circulation (ABC) on newspaper circulation in Malaysia, it
experienced a stark contraction for the first six months of
2015 as compared to the same period in 2014. The report
revealed the downward trend happened in all major
publications namely the Malay, English and Mandarin
newspapers. The downward trend continued in 2016.
For example, period between 2013 till 2015, figures by
ABC indicated that circulation of four Malay newspapers
and their Sunday editions, namely Utusan Malaysia, Berita
Harian, Kosmo and Harian Metro, dropped to around
40,000 copies per day. This is by far the worst drop faced
by Harian Metro and Metro Ahad. Circulation for Harian
Metro and Metro Ahad in 2015 fared badly to 217,000
copies for Harian Metro and 237,000 for Metro Ahad.
One of the oldest English newspaper in Malaysia, New
Straits Times (NST) was not spared either. For the first six
months of 2015, its total circulation in the market only
reached a mere 55,586 copies for its daily edition while for
its weekend edition, it was up slightly to 66,944 copies.
However, all is not lost yet. The same report by
ABC also revealed that three other publications
namely Kosmo, The Star and Sinchew suffered only
some minor drops in terms of circulation for the
same period last year.
Kosmo for example, successfully maintained its
circulation to almost 195,000 copies a day while
its weekend edition circulation soared to 205,000
copies. Both The Star and Sinchew newspaper also
maintained its grip with 274,000 and 352,359 copies
respectively.
WHAT’S NEXT?
In reality, the notion that the lifespan of print media
in Malaysia may cease to exist is not as bad as first
feared. Yes, the figures reported by ABC do not look very
encouraging, but this challenging situation requires the
owner and the editorial board of any newspaper company
to think out of the box and perhaps come up with a
different strategy to woo back the readers.
In the print media context, speed is their achilles
heel. Although thay may not be able to challenge the
internet portals in terms of speed in delivering breaking
news, the print media can utilise their strength – which is
content - by delivering not only quality, reliable but also
impactful news.
Yes, the element of speed or first in delivering the
news is an essential barometer but it does not give an
indication that it influences the peoples’ choice in
choosing their reading materials. Some readers love
humanity stories; stories which can inspire and leave a
lasting impact in their lives.
There is no doubt however that profit remains the
crucial element that will determine the rise or fall of a
newspaper company. But, is profit the only way forward
for these newspapers owners? What are the long term
plans to rebrand the publications? Perhaps they may
have heard this popular phrase before “You lost the battle
but you win the war.” Quality or quantity?
Total circulation (January-June 2015, January-June 2016),
*not including night edition
Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations, 2015 & 2016
NEWSPAPERS WHICH WENT ONLINE
Figure 1: List of newspapers which went online fully
NEWSPAPERS
TOTAL
CIRCULATION
(2015)
TOTAL
CIRCULATION
(2016)
Utusan Malaysa
162,639
144,438
Mingguan Malaysia
340,953
313495
Berita Harian
103,953
90,969
Berita Minggu
-
89,978
Kosmo
194,900
182,022
Kosmo Ahad
205,717
198,116
Harian Metro
217,384
149,253
Metro Ahad
237,722
162,091
New Straits Times
55,886
44,090
New Sunday Times
66,941
51,768
The Star
272,066
248,559
The Sunday Star
274,046
244,053
The Edge
23,921
23,295
China Press
159,975
149,969*
Sinchew Daily
352,357
328,930*
Guang Ming
73,756
64,607*
NEWSPAPERS
DETAILS
The Independent
UK
• Founded in 1986
• Final print edition on 20 March 2016
• Online version commenced in
April 2016
NewsWeek
• Founded in 1933
• Last print edition in 2012
Lyold’ List
• Started operation since 1726
• Last print edition in Sept 2013
AsianWeek
• A weekly newspaper for Sino-America
residents in San Francisco
• Started operation in 1979
• Last print edition on 2 Jan 2009
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