BIG CHANGES AHEAD FOR NATION GROUP?

Reliable and informed sources have indicated to me that big changes are imminent at The Nation. The changes appear to include the end of the free Daily Xpress newspaper and a refocus of the main The Nation newspaper in a more general direction - as opposed to its current business branding.
Rumours surrounding the demise of Daily Xpress have surfaced many times during its 19-month existence, although these appear to be strong and have been confirmed by sources familiar with the organisation but who declined to identified on record.
The end for Daily Xpress, according to once source, could be as early at the end of this week. Nation Multimedia has been given the opportunity to contribute to this story but nothing has so far been received.
-----
Daily Xpress was born on Wednesday, March 5, 2008. It was the first serious attempt by anyone to copy the free daily newspaper model that been city in major cities around the world, and renowned newspaper design guru Mario Garcia was consulted on the layout and content. On the same day that Daily Xpress launched, its big sister The Nation was re-branded as Thailand’s ‘Biggest Business Daily’ newspaper, apparently a move to distance itself in a marketing sense from its main rival The Bangkok Post. Its target readers were in the 25-25 year-old age group, and that certainly showed from the initial showbiz and celebrity stories that dominated the early front covers.
The PR circus and 2-million baht plus party surrounding the launch of Daily Xpress suggested a daily distribution throughout Bangkok and its suburbs of 100,000 copies, and while that may indeed have been the case in the early days it’s now almost impossible to find a copy outside the wrappings of The Nation. Newsprint and distribution costs will have made the early days difficult, however earlier this month Daily Xpress was boasting up to 45 per cent editorial content in each 28-page edition. That sounds good, but I suspect many of the ads (and Thai language ads dominate, which in an English newspaper is strange in itself) are not generating much in the way of revenue. I would guess they’re sold as packages across the newspaper group. For example – ‘buy one in one of the Thai newspapers and we’ll give you the same number for free in Daily Xpress’ I would be very surprised if that’s not been happening.
Daily Xpress, as with its sister The Nation, are published by NMG News Company Limited. I understand this company was formed around 18 months ago with the purpose of providing editorial services to the main Nation Multimedia Public Company Limited. I also understand The Nation will return to its previous “newspaper” format – dropping its ‘Business Daily' branding. The entertainment and sports news that was previously reserved for Daily Xpress is likely to be folded in to what will almost certainly be a two-section publication. The fate of the “International” edition that targets bulk sales at airlines and hotels remains unclear.
I hate to say “I told you so”, but on February 28, week before the launch I wrote here: “What remains to be seen is whether Thai people - the self-confessed target of this new title - will want to read their news and gossip in English. My own experiences … have shown me that, given the choice, Thai people will naturally choose Thai. And that's the thing - unless Daily Xpress is radically different it's unlikely to draw a huge readership on a regular basis.”
My views are unchanged. A daily Thai language newspaper might work. And English one has not worked and will probably never work in Thailand.
Some people might be amazed that Daily Xpress has lasted until now. Several times there have been suggestions the end is close, however the sheer number and creditability of comments and emails I’ve had in the past few days leads me to believe that things are changing – and very soon.And I do believe this is a good thing for Nation Group. To focus all its energies to maintain and improve The Nation must be the only way to move forward.

Have you say? Do you work at Nation Multimedia? What do you think of these proposed changes? What could the company do to better compete in what is a very tough marketplace? Leave your comments here or by email.