OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS

The amount of newspapers that is sold annually in the Netherlands has hardly increased over the last few years, despite the growth in population. The market seems to be saturated. Very minor shifts in readers from one paper to the other can at the most be noticed.

Other (and New) Media
The competition in the news area by other media, such as television and radio stations and Internet sites, undoubtedly has a part to play in that development. This competition has up to now, however, not yet led to a clear decrease in the amount of papers sold every day. This can obviously still happen when older and traditional newspaper readers die and the increase of younger readers fails to materialize.

It is not yet certain at all that this development is in fact going to occur. The individual character of newspapers in relation to the multiform of opinions amongst the Dutch population will always remain a strong position.

Service
A strong point is also the service offered to the readers by the newspapers. Most readers have a subscription and have their paper delivered every day, usually before they leave home to go to work. That service is highly appreciated. It is even that much appreciated that bad service in this area is one of the most important reasons for readers to cancel their subscription.

The publishers therefor put in a lot of effort to maintain service at a high level, even though they are dependent on often young delivery staff. Less and less young people in a prosperous country like the Netherlands seem to be willing to go out on the streets before dawn to deliver newspapers, especially in comparison to pocket money received from parents, or what can be earned in free days or hours elsewhere.

Service as a strong point for newspapers is with that also a potential threat. This threat could mean particularly that readers will choose another paper that is able to maintain service at a high level, or that they will shift to buying individual copies. The quality of the financial section will in that case play a major part because of the growing interest taken by readers into financial news in their paper.

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