Krant van West-Vlaanderen reshapes its brand

Until now the aggregate known as "Krant van West-Vlaanderen" (usually abbreviated as "KW"), a weekly regional newspaper, consisted of 8 different editions. As of January 2020, Roularta reduces their number to 5 (the CIM NRS questionnaire already considered 5 different "titles" that are reported together as KW). It also seems that the name KW will be enhanced, not only in paper, but also online. In 2018, the aggregate had a total print circulation of 58.555 copies every week (CIM authenticated). Weekly reach of KW.be was about 150.000 persons in the last weeks of 2019 (source: CIM Internet)

Metro: 20 years and smaller format

The free newspaper Metro appeared in the early days of 2000. So in January 2020, it will be 20 years old. For the reader, this anniversary will be marked by a new layout and a smaller format: half Berliner. Purpose is here to make reading of the paper easier, especially in public transport were it is mainly distributed.

For perspective, Metro authenticated daily circulation was 95.256 copies in Dutch and 92.080 in French in 2018 (most recently available)

Newsbrands Rossel & HLN as parts of a Proximus subscription

Voo reportedly tried to combine l'Avenir (both are part of the Nethys group) with its own pack, but it seems it was not very successful. Now Proximus announces a deal with Rossel (le Soir) and DPG  (Het Laatste Nieuws). So around 1 million private subscribers to Internet services from Proximus will get free access to the paid versions of Le Soir or HLN as part of their Proximus subscriptions. Combinations are mutually exclusive (ie neither Proximus nor Rossel/DPG may propose the same deal to any other player - read: Telenet or any newsbrand publisher) for a period of 6 months, effective as of 01/12/2019. It wil be interesting to see to what extent such a combination is welcomed by consumers and if it will expand the reach of the participating newsbrands. For perspective, 22.129 Het Laatste Nieuws daily digital sales were authentifed in 2018, and 10.682 copies daily for Le Soir.

Bye bye Rondom, Passe-Partout strikes again

In Flemish Brabant, the free sheet Rondom will return to its previous name: Passe-Partout. This very name disappeared a few years ago, when Mediahuis decided to rebrand the different editions of Passe-Partout. But Mediahuis recently sold Rondom to another publisher "Primetime Communication Group". The latter decided to come back to the previous name for the publications of Vlaams Brabant. Noticeably Roularta also recently decided to come back to a previous name for their free sheets: so "Deze Week" reverts to its previous name "De Streekkrant".

Ciné Télé Revue now part of Groupe Rossel

The private publisher of Ciné-Télé-Revue (paid circulation =  164.093 ex weekly) that used to be a private company is now part of the Rossel holding, next to Soir, Sud-Presse, Soir Mag, Vlan, etc. In doing so, Rossel increase its share of print distribution in South Belgium: from 46%, it goes up to 49% of the total measurable circulation volume (CIM authenticated, 2018). Rossel owns a leadership position in the Southern part of Belgium.