Aggressive campaign for print media in Romania. Media group offers free iPads to all new subscribers

Romanian media company Mediafax Group, which runs the Ziarul Financiar daily newspaper, the news agency Mediafax and the weekly magazine Business Magazin has launched a campaign offering subscribers free iPads and a one-year data subscription from Vodafone, if they sign up for a three-year subscription for some of its media products. This is one of the most aggressive campaigns on the Romanian market, aiming to secure subscribers for products on the printed media segment, which has been suffering in the recent years. The subscription costs RON 2,600, while the cost of an iPad on the Romanian market reaches a similar number. The campaign, which includes a three-year subscription to Ziarul Financiar and to Business Magazin, will be on until the end of the year. Paid subscription makes the bulk of these publications' copy sales, although the situation was slightly different three years ago, when more copies were sold at news stands. Ziarul Financiar had 12,400 paid subscribers at the beginning of 2008, when its raw circulation was of 21,200. Then the number of subscribers reached 16,000 in December 2008, only to go down to 12,800 in January 2009, when the raw circulation was of 18,400. It reached 10,400 paid subscriptions in May 2010, according to data from the Romanian Circulation Bureau (BRAT). Back then, the raw circulation was of 18,100, and only 14,600 of it was distributed. In March this year, Ziarul Financiar was distributing around 13,000 copies per issue and sold around 10,000 of them, most of it though subscription. Business Magazin weekly had 6,600 subscribers in January 2008, went up to 7,600 a year after and reached 7,300 in September 2010, according to data from BRAT. In March this year, the total distributed copies per issued exceeded 9,000, according to BRAT. editor@romania-insider.com