The folding of the Express News this week has sent a shiver down the spine of the Chinese-language press in Hong Kong. Since the collapse of Hong Kong Today, a sister tabloid of Ming Pao, in November 1994, at least 17 publications have closed.
Citing statistics from A C Neilson Hong Kong, Apple Daily has claimed for the first time to be the most popular newspaper. Its readership in January was estimated at 1,938,000. The Oriental Daily News, whose cover price is $2 lower than other Chinese papers, was trailing in second place at 1,826,000.
Despite its position, Apple's editor-in-chief Ip Yut-kin admitted the daily operated at a loss of $16 million last month. He attributed the low sales to the sluggish Lunar New Year period and the general slump in advertising. The paper has dismissed more than 100 staff members in the past few months.
'Putting it in a nut shell,' Mr Ip confessed in his column yesterday, 'The Apple looks glamorous on the surface, but there is a long and winding road ahead before we can make some real money.' The Oriental Daily News has disputed its rival's claim. Pointing to a Chinese University survey it commissioned, the paper maintained its readership exceeded the two million threshold, and thus retained the crown in the domestic Chinese publication market.
Irrespective of the various claims, the other Chinese papers have been dwarfed by the two leaders. According to the Neilson figures, Sing Pao was in third place with a readership of 374,000, Ming Pao, hailed as a quality paper, next with 330,000 followed by the Tin Tin Daily, which just managed to pass the 250,000 benchmark.
With the exception of a couple of financial papers, many publications have been struggling in the red. Some have been eyeing the potential across the border. The Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening Post alone enjoys a circulation of about 1.2 million copies a day, rendering it the fourth most popular paper nationwide.