Restoring newspaper readership among French youth

Posted by Nestor Bailly on September 29, 2009 at 1:07 PM

Speaking at the World Young Reader Conference in Prague on Tuesday, Jeanne-Emmanuelle Hutin, a member of the Directors Committee at Ouest France and Co-chair of the French Presidential Youth-Press Commission, spoke of the merits of free disribution of newspapers to youths aged 18-24.

Back in January, President Sarkozy announced that the government would be offering all 18 year olds a free daily newspaper of their choice, as part of scheme to help the floundering press industry and encourage youths to read the newspaper. While critics have spoken against the plan as superficial and demagogic, 41 different French newspapers have been experimenting and implementing similar concepts since 2006, Ms Hutin's Ouest France included.

"Is it a good idea? Yes, as long as we don't disappoint the young and succeed in interesting them in the news, with relevant content and approaches, by investing in other platforms and by strengthening links with them," Hutin said, "Its a fantastic opportunity but a huge challenge." Ouest France increased the number of regular readers among 18 to 24 year olds by 22,000 in 3 years, with 12 percent re-subscribing after their free subscriptions ended. And 65 percent of the young subscribers continue to read Ouest France at least once a week after their free subscriptions end.

But achieving even this level of success was not easy. Special content had to be devised for youth, in the case of Ouest France as a 'Special Future' recruitment section, and traditional marketing techniques had to be abandoned in favor of those focusing on new media and flexible subscriptions.

"Free subscriptions are not a cure-all remedy, especially if there is nothing of interest to young readers in the newspaper. But it is the backbone of several initiatives to meet the needs of the youth," said Ms Hutin. Free nationwide subscriptions, to begin next month, are part of new government subsidies to the French press totalling €600 million over three years. The publishers will provide the newspapers for free and the government pays for distribution.

The 8th World Young Reader Conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, brought publishers, marketing executives, education and young reader experts to Prague to examine initiatives for encouraging and increasing young readership. Summaries of the conference presentations can be found at http://www.wan-press.org/article18233.html

Source: WAN-IFRA press release