Seminar with Piet Bakker, University of Amsterdam

 "Free Daily Newspapers - Business Models and Strategies" by Piet Bakker

Abstract: Free daily newspapers, first introduced in Sweden in 1995, have proved to be muchmore than a passing phenomenon. By 2002, 80 free daily newspapers were introducedin 26 countries, 60 of them still exist. In thirteen countries free papers are responsiblefor more than ten percent of the total daily weekday circulation. The total circulation ofthe 60 free papers is almost 10 million copies, every day more than 20 million peopleread these papers. The success of the free papers is the result of their efficient coststructure and their ability to reach a new and relatively young audience. When lookingmore closely at the firms that publish these free newspapers two different modelsemerge; first, the entrepreneur entering a new market, and second the local or nationalnewspaper firm. In the second model, free papers are launched to prevent otherfirms entering the market or to counter new firms already in the market. In the longrun these obstructive tactics may develop into more positive strategies. Most readersare former Ônon-readersÕ or people who read paid and free newspapers. Existing firmsare developing strategies to benefit from the growing readership of newspapers createdby free papers.Piet Bakker er lektor ved Insitut for Kommunikation, Amsterdam Universitet og medlem af Amsterdam skole for kommunikations forskning - ASCoR. Han forsker i jounalistik, aviser, lokale medier og teknologiens betydning for traditionelle medier.

Piel Bakker is Associate Professor at the Department of Communication at the University ofAmsterdam and a member of the Amsterdam School of Communication ResearchASCoR. His research focuses on journalism, newspapers, local media and the impact ofnew technologies on the traditional media.