Continue the black period of Italian publishing, still grappling with declining sales and with the digital innovations that have revolutionized this even more than other sectors.
The main publishing groups in the country, which own the main national newspapers, are in trouble and show more evident signs of weakness than those of Germany, France and the United Kingdom, with revenues, employment and investments still declining in 2017. In this context a positive note comes from industrial profitability which showed signs of improvement over the past year.
These are the most striking data of thesurvey on publishing published by R&S Mediobanca. The study focuses on the 2013-2017 accounts - also reaching the first nine months of 2018 - of the main eight Italian publishing groups, making a comparison with the major newspaper publishers in Europe and an analysis of the publishing sector worldwide.
NEWSPAPERS: HOW MANY COPIES ARE THEY SELLING IN ITALY?
The Mediobanca study also confirms a trend that now seems unstoppable: in 2017 lpaper circulation of newspapers in Italy it decreased by about 400 thousand copies per day, going from 2,6 million to 2,2 million (-15,4% on 2016 and -40,5% on 2013) according to ADS data.
Things are a little better globally, where print circulation has remained substantially stable (-0,1% compared to 2016). Today the circulation of Italian newspapers is worth 0,4% of the world circulation, less than that of the leading German and British daily together.
The study then makes a ranking, based precisely on paper circulation, of the top 10 news dailies. On the first step of the podium we find the Corriere della Sera, with 227 thousand
daily copies in 2017. In second place is La Repubblica (191 thousand copies), followed by another newspaper of the GEDI Group, The print (146 thousand). They enter the top ten:
- occur (102 miles),
- The messenger (101 miles),
- QN-Il Resto del Carlino (99 miles),
- The Sun 24 HOURS (91 miles),
- QN-The Nation (73 miles),
- The newspaper (60 thousand)
- The Gazzettino (51 thousand).
As for prices, Mediobanca underlines how Italian newspapers are on average less expensive compared to European ones and in the period 2013-2017 they recorded the lowest price increase.
Small curiosity: "Bild, Sun and Daily Mail cost less than half and have an average circulation of almost six times higher than that of the first two newspapers of information of the main European countries", underline the researchers of Piazzetta Cuccia.
ITALIAN PUBLISHING: HERE IS THE RANKING OF REVENUES
As anticipated, continue the negative trend of aggregate revenues of the top eight Italian publishing groups, despite some improvements. Overall, Italian publishing recorded revenues of 3,5 billion euros, a figure that represents a decrease of 6% compared to 2016 and even of 20,2% compared to 2013.
At the corporate level, in 2017 the top three Italian groups - together - accounted for 83% of the turnover of the top eight national operators. Which ones are they? Mondadori with 1,268 billion in turnover, RCS with 896 million (to which must be added another 89 million from Cairo Editore) e Cheetah with 634 million euros.
“The huge drop in sales – underlines Mediobanca – is reflected in employment. Between 2013 and 2017 the workforce decreased by 3.301 units, -21,7% on 2013 and -8,8% on 2016, reaching 11.886 units at the end of 2017”.
From revenue to losses: overall net losses for the period 2013-2017 amount to €1,2 billion. Only Cairo Editore had a positive result with a profit of 38 million euros.
In this context, in 2017 there are some signs of improvement: in particular, RCS recorded a net profit of 71 million (compared to 4 million in 2016), Mondadori 30,4 million euros from €22,5 million in 2016 and Il Sole 24 ORE 7,5 million euros of profit from -92,6 million in 2016.
Good news on the slope industrial profitability which at the aggregate level marks a turnaround in the five-year period: ebit margin 4,1% in 2017 compared to -5,7% in 2013. In 2017, the performances of Cairo Editore (12,4%), RCS (10,8, 5,8%) and GEDI (24%). Il Sole 19,5 ORE (-25,2%) and Class Editori (-XNUMX%) followed.
Analyzing the financial structure “if Cairo Editore, which has no financial debts, is the most solid company in 2017 followed by Caltagirone Editore (financial debts equal to 1,8% of the share capital), Monrif and Class Editori are instead fragile (financial debts equal, respectively , at 3,7 and 4,8 times equity). The economic difficulties of publishing are also evident in the drastic drop in investments: 13 million euros less invested than in 2013 (-40%)”, concludes Mediobanca.
ITALIAN PUBLISHING IN 2018
The ranking above changes if the first nine months of 2018 are also taken into consideration. In particular, the structure of the podium changes with Rcs that leaps to the top in the ranking with a turnover of 713 million euros, overtaking Mondadori which stops at 658 million "strongly reduced following the disposal agreements of the French Magazines division", reads the report.
The large publishing groups were unable to stop the decline in turnover in the three quarters considered, even if RCS (-0,3%) and Class Editori (stable) limited the damage.
PUBLISHING IN EUROPE AND IN THE WORLD
The downward trend recorded in Italy was not seen in the others major European states. In detail, in France the turnover rose by 7,5% compared to 2016, in Germany by 2,6% and in the United Kingdom by 1%.
At European level, the gap between news and business publications is widening, with the latter recording an increase in revenues (+3,9% compared to -0,5% for the former).
As for the majors European publishing groups by turnover in 2017, the first position goes to the News Media division of the Axel Springer Group, publisher of the newspapers Bild and Die Welt with 1,5 billion euros, followed by the British Associated Newspapers (762 million) and News Group Newspapers (478 million), publishers respectively of the Daily Mail and the Sun.
Looking even further, worldwide turnover fell by 2,2% compared to 2016, reaching a total of 150 billion.
"Despite the growth of digital - underlines Mediobanca - in 2017, 89,5% of world turnover still came from printed paper, a sign of how globally the majority of advertising investments and sales are still concentrated on the channels traditional".
The last few years have also shown how advertising revenues, threatened by BigWeb companies, produce meager profit margins for publishers. The publishing world is therefore faced with new challenges that will lead large groups to diversify their income streams. In particular, the attention of publishers is shifting to activities that are not necessarily traditional, such as product quality versus the proliferation of fake news and on the use of big data to offer readers an increasingly personalized experience.
