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Sales of Manager daily increase as Sondhi's anti-Thaksin campagin moves forward
Bangkok Post
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
By Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit
Sales of Manager daily are gaining momentum along with the campaign by its founder, Sondhi Limthongkul, against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. A survey by the bookstore chain SE-Ed Plc puts Manager in first place among business dailies sold in its stores, up from third place in 2004. Krungthep Turakij, the perennial leader, has slipped to second place and Post Today, the sister daily of the Bangkok Post, from second to third.
However, sales data only cover the final three months of 2005 and the 430 SE-Ed bookstores, stalls and newsstands in Greater Bangkok.
Thanong Chotisorayuth, SE-Ed's managing director, said the company had collected the data to predict emerging trends in reading habits over the coming year.
The company did not give specific sales figures for the newspapers but said that Manager sales had been picking up steadily since September when Mr Sondhi began to step up his attacks on Mr Thaksin on the Thailand Weekly TV programme.
However, Krungthep Turakij, published by Nation Multimedia Group Plc, was the best-selling business daily in the first eight months of last year, the survey showed.
A source at an advertising agency, who declined to be named, said the survey was not reliable and that at least six months' worth of data would be needed to give a survey credibility.
However, the source acknowledged that Manager had been gaining favour over the past few years by offering more in-depth news and investigative stories, especially about politics.
Today, Manager claims a print run of 280,000 copies a day, followed by Krungthep Turakij with 140,000 copies, and Post Today with 80,000.
"Manager daily has gained more popularity since 2004 after modernising is look and content," the source said, adding that in 2003 Manager claimed to print 180,000 copies a day.Among mass-market dailies, SE-Ed said that Thai Rath still led the market, followed by Daily News, Khom Chad Luek, Khao Sod and Matichon.
Newspapers are now being challenged by higher costs for both newsprint and distribution, the latter due to high oil and transport costs. The mass-market papers are considering raising prices to either 12 baht or 15 baht, from eight baht currently, to cover costs, said the source.
The survey also said that Manager Weekly and Manager Monthly were the top sellers in their segments.
Cleo was the top-selling variety magazine for women, followed by the Thai editions of Elle, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire. Lisa Weekly tied for fourth place.
Date Posted: 2/15/2006
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