Despite a fall in revenue, business daily The Asian Wall Street Journal is claiming to have the largest share of the regional market among 24 publications measured.
According to figures compiled by CMR International, the Journal took over from Time magazine with 15.55 per cent of the market in the first quarter of this year, compared with 13.8 per cent for the same period last year. The figure produced by Adex, the AC Nielsen-compiled rival to CMR, is 15 per cent.
Publisher Will Adamopoulos said this had been accompanied by a 4.77 per cent fall in advertising revenue to US$7.77 million for the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year.
All but two of the top 10 regional publications saw revenues fall. Time, Newsweek and Asiaweek each lost more than 20 per cent. Only Reader's Digest (21 per cent) and Business Week (0.11 per cent) bucked the trend.
Mr Adamopoulos confirmed the Journal was leaving its offices in the AIA Building in Happy Valley after 15 years. He would not comment on reports that the operation would relocate to Central Plaza, Wan Chai, saying only that: 'It is one of several locations we are talking about.' He denied that the move was prompted by the fall in advertising returns. 'The fact is that our lease is up and after 15 years we are ready to move, whether it is a bull market or a bear market.' Mr Adamopoulos said regional titles were having to absorb smaller income drops than those dependent on single localities for their advertising.
'There seems to have been a flight to quality. If someone has a million to spend this year when last year he had two million he will put it into regional titles because that's where the higher demographics are. You put it where the public are still spending their money.' Publications like the Journal were also vehicles for more advertising spending than local ones. Since Europe and North America were still fairly buoyant economies, their level of expenditure was still healthy, Mr Adamopoulos said.
