Taking a look at the 30% operating margins of free papers in the Netherlands, papers which run on annual revenues of 40 to 50 million euro, Rogmans wondered if it would be possible to create a freesheet whose newsroom produced quality content by sacrificing huge profits. He pitched his idea, found an investor, and De Pers was born.

The paper’s 45 staff journalists, a mixture of 50% experienced journalists with the other half cutting their teet, focus on analysis and giving background material instead of copying the strategy of other freesheets, which Rogmans feels are “all look-alikes” similar to Metro. Issues such as global warming, globalization and demographic shifts are discussed on the paper’s modernly designed pages. De Pers’ motto is “We write about the news of tomorrow with a human touch.”

He is confident that there is a market for a free quality paper. Contrary to what some in the newspaper industry might believe, that people don’t read the paper anymore, Rogmans knows this is false. He tells the anecdote of once walking into a railway station where virtually all 300 or so of those waiting were reading a newspaper. The only difference to previous decades was that all of those newspapers were free. Rogmans figured that these non-paying newspaper readers would appreciate more commentary and analysis, while furnishing free paper advertisers with additional targets.  

So far, Rogmans has been happy with the content that his newsroom is putting out but admits “it’s not good enough.” According to the editor-in-chief, there certainly remains room in the market for quality broadsheets such as NRC Handelsblad. But Rogmans says the existence of De Pers might force paid-for papers to rethink their business model. Traditionally, these papers make most of their money on Saturdays. Since consumers are gradually turning more to freesheets during the week, he thinks that eventually paid-for dailies will reduce their print run and number of editions thus saving money. In the end, freesheet might actually be the savior of the paid-for market!

Or maybe not. Although it is too soon to reach any conclusions about the De Pers experiment, feedback from readers has been overwhelmingly positive. Free newspaper specialist Piet Bakker even cites a survey that showed 1/3 of respondents declaring that they were thinking about canceling their paid-for subscriptions after the introduction of De Pers into the market.

Asked to comment on whether or not he considered his paper in competition with the €1 NRC Next, a daily morning spin-off of NRC Handelsblad chock full of analysis and aimed at younger readers, Rogmans didn’t think so. He noted that about 1/3 of its audience equates De Pers to NRC Next. But with De Pers averaging 500,000 copies distributed per day versus NRC Next’s 40,000 paid and temporary subscribers, Rogmans doesn’t hold that view. In fact, he said “We’re not yet sure who our competitors are since we are such a distinct product.”

The success it has had with readers in its short 3 months of existence, De Pers’ quality free-style should be watched closely by the newspaper industry. Come to Cape Town to take advantage of Ben Rogmans’ personal insight into this evolving medium.