Axel Springer plans to launch French tabloid

Axel Springer, publisher of popular German tabloid Bild, is launch a tabloid in the French market, which will have to contend with France’s tough privacy laws. The plans include a three-year investment of EUR 120m and Axel Springer believes it can sell a million copies of the tabloid a day. The French version of Bild is yet to be named and will come up against its nearest rival Le Parisien, covering politics, daily life, sport and celebrities. However, the publisher plans to undercut Le Parisien by EUR 0.40 by charging only EUR 0.50. The launch is planned for the second half of 2007 and Axel Springer is currently recruiting a staff of 300. The title will have to contend with France’s strict privacy laws that effectively ban the types of photographs and gossip that traditional tabloids, such as Bild, sell newspapers on. Distribution may cause a problem as well. The dominant French press distribution system has just 28,000 newspaper sales outlets in France, compared with 120,000 in Germany, where Bild currently sells 3.5m. The launch comes as part of a busy programme of international expansion that has seen the publisher push out across Europe. (Brand Republic,February 20, 2007)

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