“Libe” in good condition, “JDD” sinks – Liberation

Not in the same boat. According to data published on Thursday February 15 by the Alliance for Press and Media Figures (ACPM), press circulation in France fell by 4.6% in 2023, with 2.4 billion copies of newspapers sold, including 721 million digital versions. Press sites and apps, for their part, recorded 23 billion visits (all media combined). The French press will distribute 2.7 billion copies in 2023, or an average of 7.5 million copies per day.

Amidst more or less disappointing results for press titles, a significant decline. Between 2022 and 2023 its average monthly sales declined by 21.3%, from 132,406 copies to 104,177 paid issues distributed, The Sunday Journal (JDD) His transfer to the far-right media purse in the summer of 2023 has not benefited in the least. None of the other 45 titles fared poorly on the seventh day of press JDD And only two of them reach double-digit declines, according to the ACPM, with the latter falling by 10.1%.

However, this decline must be put into perspective. The non-publication of six Sunday issues during the forty days of the strike that marked the takeover of Lejeune in June and July 2023 – forcing it to produce the first issue without a reporter – played a role in this decline. However, the diffusion avg JDD Before the strike (January to May 2023) there were 122,595 copies, while after the strike (August to December 2023) there were 113,544 copies, a decrease of 7.3% between the two periods. Between May and December, circulation of the title fell 9.3%, according to CheckNews.

Sudden editorial change

For Arnaud Mercier, professor of information science at Paris Panthéon-Assas University, this data appears to be the result of a sudden change in editorial line, with the arrival at the helm of far-right journalist Geoffroy Lejeune, and the emergence of Tribune SundayBorn to compete JDD. “The hypothesis of a shift in readership seems established by what we know about the history of the press and similar situations. We saw this, for example, with Science and Life And Epsilon“, Remembers the researcher. In 2021, the editorial staff of Science and Life, Pushed out by its shareholders, a new reference scientific monthly was refunded, Epsilon.

Nothing too surprising for media historian Alexis Lavrier. “When you attack a newspaper’s editorial identity, especially so violently, it rarely succeeds. At the turn of the 1920s, when François Coty took over Le Figaro To make it a far-right newspaper, at first, it works. Then it will decrease, and Koti will be ruined.” about JDDHistorians also note the difficulty of stopping “A very bearish overall dynamic” In the long run. “The wind has been blowing against the weekly press for some time now. With the reduction in the number of points of sale, it is not necessary to access this newspaper even when you want to.”

One last worrying indicator for the Lejeune gang, “Newspaper resumes on poor footing in 2024”, Point Arnaud Mercier. Newsstand sales of JDD, which fell by 25% between 2022 and 2023, will continue to decline as calculated in January (-12.5%). the world. However, for Arnaud Mercier, “Shareholders don’t care, because above all they need a relay of ideological influence.” Bolloré strategy? “I think they know coldly and cynically that in order to impose their editorial line and find a new audience it is necessary to go through the loss of voters, This is what happened with iTélé and CNews“, That explains.

On the competition side, Tribune Sunday The Curiosity Effect benefited when it appeared in October 2023 (51,222 copies sold on average) before falling more than 30% in two months in November and December (40,986 followed by 35,301 print runs).

“Libé” sells 100,000 copies per day

In detail, the regional daily press (PQR) represents 37% of French press circulation, followed by the magazine press (36%). The National Daily Press (PQN), which sells the most in the digital version, completes the podium with 16%. Among the nine PQN titles considered by the ACPM, Libbe It is the newspaper that benefits from the strongest growth between 2022 and 2023, with an increase in its circulation of 3.8%, and an average of 100,000 copies sold per day.

The fifth most distributed national daily newspaper in France, publication According to Arnaud Mercier, A “A good position and a profitable strategy, with a return to certain fundamentals, in the midst of a still determined opposition to the national rally, but also to Macronism, and becoming more autonomous against the debates that undoubtedly split the left” We will not comment further.