Resumen de Not so easy to build a digital future out of a print success. Case Study, Brittany (France)
In some countries such as Finland (Lehtisaari and Grönlund, 2015), the newspaper ecosystem is so exceptional that the companies, despite declining readership, have maintained a relatively stable economic position. In the French region of Brittany, two print groups did not rush into online ventures;
the traditional business model has secured its profitability for many decades, starting from its establishment after WWII. Ouest-France (the leading group in France, selling more copies in 14 départements than Le Monde and Le Figaro together in the entire country) has erected a paywall in 2018. The competitor Le Télégramme started its digital operation in 2014, asking the internaut to pay for the service. It is too early to measure the first digital steps of Ouest-France accurately; it is more relevant to do it in the case of Le Télégramme. As media economists, we define «success» through financials and audience figures. The trade unions and pundits praise both companies as producing the best French regional newspapers regarding editorial quality. Le Télégramme and Ouest-France, have tailored a pretty similar print product regarding content aimed at the same relatively homogenous audience, interested by local news (localism, Noam, 2009). Le Télégramme is more local than Ouest-France, which is more national (running a bureau in Paris) and international (with an extensive network of foreign correspondents).
Both newspapers are holding a position of duopoly, they are probably close to Lacy’s model (1989), explaining «why intense competition may produce higher quality. « The cover price (currently 95 cents of euro) has always been low compared to other French newspapers and with no difference between the two rivals. However, this paper asserts that it is not so easy to build a digital future out of print success.
Le Télégramme faces many problems, either managerial and financial or journalistic, to reach a sustainable transition print/web as well as a successful diversification.
