Schibsted Editorial Report 2014 | Page 108

20minutos 20minutos maintained its ranking as Spain’s second most read generalist daily newspaper in 2014, only behind El País. CRISIS Emerging from The Spanish economy, in crisis since 2008, showed some signs of improvement in 2013, and continued to improve in 2014, with GDP increasing 1.4 per cent. This slight improvement in economic conditions, and the refocusing of management which started in 2013, had a positive impact on revenues. Advertising sales, the only income generated by the company, amounted to EUR 15.02 in 2014, an increase of 0.6 per cent from 2013, thereby registering our first increase in total sales growth since 2008. The company increased its number of employees from 151 to 152, and our editorial department went from 87 to 88 employees: we hired a journalist to work at our Granada office following a commercial agreement with several advertisers. The average daily print run for 20minutos fell 19.2 per cent, from 392,819 in 2013, to 315,584 in 2014. This was the result of a fall in audience for the printed newspaper, which went from 1,228,000 average daily readers at the end of 2013 to 1,066,000 by the end of 2014, a fall of 13.8 per cent. Notwithstanding this reduction, 20minutos maintained its ranking as Spain’s second most read generalist daily newspaper, behind only El País. Furthermore, average circulation per edition increased to record levels, with 3.38 readers per distributed print paper, based on official data from EGM and OJD/PGD. Arsenio Escolar Ramos Editor-in-chief In 2014, the editorial office strengthened its merger and integration between the print and online teams started in 2012, under our “digital first” principle. A BUSY NEWS YEAR During 2014, Spanish society experienced an intense period of change and a series of major news stories – a demanding year for our editorial office. In the domestic arena, the main stories included the final stages of the economic crisis; the government’s austerity measures; growing inequality; demonstrations; the debate over independence for Catalonia; the death of immigrants in Ceuta and Melilla; celebrities convicted of corruption; the birth of a new political party, Podemos and upheaval for the established political parties. King Juan Carlos I abdicated; and former president Adolfo Suarez died, as did Emilio Botín, CEO of Santander, and former footballer Alfredo DiStéfano. In sport, two Spanish teams, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, clashed in the Champions League Final; the World Cup in Brazil; and the crisis at FC Barcelona following the resignation of its president over the signing of Neymar. Internationally, majour stories included the Ebola crisis, with a Spanish woman being the first European case of contagion outside Africa; the conflict in Ukraine; and the emergence of Islamic State. 108 Throughout 2014, the communications industry in Spain continued