Ah, youth
I could be wrong. Or the French could be strange. Of course, both are distinct possibilities. But I have been skeptical about newspapers’ efforts to lure the young with new print products targeted at them. I tend to think they pander to a demographic with the false voice of an oldster trying to talk down to a youngster. And I’m not sure that luring the young to print is either feasible or desirable.
Yet last week, Focus, the German newsmagazine, reported on the success of a French effort to publish newspapers for young people (no link to the story, unfortunately). Mon Quotidien (my newspaper), a paper originally for readers between 10 and 15 launched in 1995, sells 200,000 copies. Along with three other papers for readers of various ages — one serving readers up to age 7 — they claim 2.5 million readers.
So it’s spreading. This month, former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan launched First News in the UK. And in Germany, Springer head Mathias Doepfner uses the French success to argue for a kinderpaper there.
Tags: newspapers
May 31st, 2006 at 12:18 pm
I have a followup question: what’s the point of sale for these youth newspapers? If it’s at school, they might be part of a current affairs class, or some structure where young people aren’t buying because they prefer the format.
May 31st, 2006 at 3:29 pm
POS is schools and yes, integrated with the curriculum, which in France is national. (Which is convenient if you are MQ’s publisher.) The paper is A4, probably 6 pages, delivered via mail. AND well done and interesting.
May 31st, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Francois Dufour, who runs Play Bac Presse, also tried publishing a similar paper in English in Miami, as an insert to the Miami Herald. From what I understand, it got a lot of very positive comments but did not meet the ambitious circulation-retention goals the Herald had for it. In France, its success is helped by favorable postal rates and a system that guarantees next-day delivery. We live in France and my kids loved it when they were littler. I remember, for instance, that the paper sent a correspondent to the Kosovo war, and covered the Asian tsunami.