Archive: Today, Too Late?

Article discussing impact of Today, a new Singapore tabloid, on the Singapore media market. Edited version published in Business Times on 10 November, 2000.



If you've been walking down a number of MRT stations these last few days, you can't miss the bright yellow bins which await the arrival of Today, the new free newspaper launched by Mediacorp,Singtel Yellow Pages and SMRT. Mediacorp's publicity machine has rolled into full swing, courtesy of its subsidiaries TCS and RCS. But more telling is the comparative silence of the newspapers owned by their media rivals, Singapore Press Holdings. The battle of the media giants has begun, or has it?



To SPH, the launch of Today must seem less a battle than a skirmish. This is definitely not Normandy for them, more like a small outpost in the sub-Saharan desert. Even the venerable Goldman Sachs seems to think so, judging by their bullish comments on SPH on Wednesday.



Credit to SPH: They moved quickly to isolate the assault by Today. Immediately upon digesting the announcement of a rival free newspaper, the SPH team moved swiftly to pre-empt Today's launch by itself launching two new newspapers, Streats and Project Eyeball. The former, a free newspaper too, was probably a direct reaction to Today; Project Eyeball however, was probably already in the skunkworks. Net result? Today has now to contend with not just one but three other rivals chasing the same advertising dollars: The New Paper, Streats and Project Eyeball.



From an advertising pie of $x, Today's potential share fell from $x/2 to $x/4 overnight (the advertising pie destined to be shared between The New Paper and Today only is now shared between The New Paper, Today, Streats and Project Eyeball). I recall from my O Level economics days, this being called the brand proliferation strategy, practised by the Unilevers and Procter & Gambles of this world, to limit the assault of independent brands. The idea is for the incumbent to flood the market with different brands, so that new entrants will be limited to a smaller market share. Classic strategy stuff.



But there is yet another reason why it's crucial for SPH to contain the fighting ground at the The New Paper type level. In the same way that an aircraft carrier is flanked by cruisers and destroyers, The New Paper, Streats and Project Eyeball are flanking the mothership, none other than the cash cow of The Straits Times itself. Let's keep the enemy busy fighting our flankers, and move the fighting ground as far away from the mothership as possible. Kinda like our national air defence strategy.



I would venture a guess that more than 80% of the profit of all the SPH newspapers combined is derived from just two papers – The Straits Times and the The Business Times (together with their week-end editions). The New Paper probably at best makes a marginal profit. So when Today launches an assault on The New Paper market, it’s missing the point. And for good measure, SPH has also deployed the flankers, Streats and Project Eyeball, to contain it.



So Today will have a tough job on its hands. It enters a segment which is already only marginally profitable for the incumbent, and not only that, it now has to fight for share for that segment against not just one, but three other opponents. I’d always root for the underdog (particularly if their opponent is a former monopolist), but this time, I have to admit I’m not optimistic. I guess it’s left to someone else to figure out SPH’s vulnerable nerve. So, who’s going to assault Normandy?



Post-script: 9 months later, Today appears to have made a successful entry into the newspaper marketplace. Its short news summaries, tabloid format and freeness has enabled it to garner a good amount of advertising. Project Eyeball is now defunct whilst Streats and Today are still battling in the MRTs.