The National Press Council (CNP) has said that the losses of the Moroccan press have amounted to MAD243 million (USD24.3 million) in three months after newspaper printing was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.
A 110 percent drop in advertising revenues was recorded between March 18 and May 18, compared to the same period last year, CNP said.
The crisis triggered by the pandemic will have severe repercussions and exacerbate the structural crisis of the Moroccan press, the report pointed out.
The Council proposed thirty measures to rescue the press, by encouraging reading newspapers, increasing government funding, organizing the advertising market and reviewing training and human resources, in addition to incentives for the creation of a competitive media industry.
The crisis of the Moroccan press worsened in the last three years after the sale of newspapers fell under 200,000 copies per day, with a drop of 33 percent for dailies, 65 percent for weeklies and 58 percent for magazines, the report added.
It was based on a survey of a random sample made up of 30 publications, as well as the views of all stakeholders in the sector including the Moroccan Federation of Newspaper Publishers, the Union of Morocco’s Advertisers, the Union of Communication Consulting Agencies and the distribution company Sapress, in addition to the latest studies on newspaper readership, and the economic situation of press companies and the advertising market.
The share of advertising in the paper and electronic press dropped by 50 percent between 2010-2018 and decreased by 72.4 percent in the first five months of the last three years, the report said.
It added that the digital press didn’t have better luck than the print media, in which its advertising share totaled 11 percent with an annual amount of circa MAD600 million (USD60 million).
Advertising investors are choosing internet giants such as Facebook and Google to advertise.
