The figures
‘2012 was so far the best year ever for de Persgroep Nederland.
Of course, that didn’t happen by default and we’ll save the celebrations
for after the economic crisis. However, the figures do speak for
themselves: the websites attract a combined 3.7 million unique visitors
– per month – and on tablets we are seeing 240,000 downloads of our
papers each week. In addition, 2.5 million people read the paper copies
of Algemeen Dagblad, de Volkskrant, Trouw and Het Parool per day. At
the weekend that rises to 3 million people. Are you keeping up? On top
of this there are also the smartphones, on which our readers view 14
million of our pages each week, and that’s increasing every minute.’
Looking back
‘There is therefore no reason for us to complain about
the interest in the news that we bring to people, in all of its diversity.
However, we have been endeavouring to make our operations as functional
and as flexible as possible in order to capitalise on the changing
situations. We have successfully managed to combat higher costs particularly
at the printer’s and in the distribution organisation. In the meantime
quality, production certainty and delivery quality continued to
staunchly hold up. In the summer, as a result of the acquisition of VNU
Media, we were able to welcome colleagues from Intermediair, de Nationale
Vacaturebank and Tweakers. All activities in the vacancies market
– including VKbanen – have been placed with what is now known as
VNU Vacature Media.’
Looking ahead
‘The art is to thoroughly understand when, where
and how people prefer to read the news, and what charge is reasonable
for providing that service. In the advertising market the challenge
remains to – specifically on our platforms – get the best out of the
brands and to offer advertisers creative and good solutions. Despite a
lower advertising volume and partly thanks to VNU Vacature Media, de
Persgroep Nederland was able to close 2012 with higher total turnover
and, significantly, the financial result remained on par and that encourages
us to achieve more in 2013.’
Frits Campagne
Manager de Persgroep Nederland
