Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

TODAY’s journey from print to fully-digital

On Friday (Aug 25), Mediacorp announced that TODAY will go fully digital after discontinuing its print edition from the end of September. The deal will involve Mediacorp buying the Singapore Press Holding’s minority stakes in Mediacorp Press, which operates the TODAY newspaper, as well as Mediacorp TV, which owns Channels 5, 8, U, and Mediacorp Studio. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. The announcement comes more than 17 years after the Government liberalised the media sector, a move that resulted in the launch of TODAY, which has since become the second most read daily in Singapore. Here’s the timeline of the key milestones:

TODAY file photo

TODAY file photo

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

On Friday (Aug 25), Mediacorp announced that TODAY will go fully digital after discontinuing its print edition from the end of September.

The deal will involve Mediacorp buying the Singapore Press Holding’s minority stakes in Mediacorp Press, which operates the TODAY newspaper, as well as Mediacorp TV, which owns Channels 5, 8, U, and Mediacorp Studio. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

The announcement comes more than 17 years after the Government liberalised the media sector, a move that resulted in the launch of TODAY, which has since become the second most read daily in Singapore.

Here’s the timeline of the key milestones:

May 2000: Following the Government’s move to liberalise the media sector, Mediacorp ventured into the publishing industry by launching TODAY, a free commuter tabloid-sized newspaper, while Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) set up a free commuter tabloid, Streats, and ventured into broadcasting by setting up two free-to-air television channels.

Nov 10, 2000: The first edition of the TODAY newspaper hit the stands, despite the last-minute pullout of one of its partners and a Goldman Sachs report that criticised the potential of the newspaper.

April 27, 2002: TODAY launched its weekend edition.

Sept 2004: After four years of costly experiments and aggressive moves, Mediacorp and SPH inked deals that saw the rivals consolidate their mass-market television and free newspaper operations in an effort to stem the red ink. MediaCorp took a majority stake in a new TV company and kept its controlling interest in TODAY. SPH, meanwhile, withdrew from direct TV operations and the free newspaper market, and it took minority stakes in the new TV company and in TODAY.

Oct 2005: TODAY became the second-most widely read daily English newspaper in Singapore, with a readership of 537,000, based on the Nielsen Media Index. In the same year, the newspaper turned profitable, after bleeding for the first five years of operations.

Oct 2006: TODAY’s readership reached 621,000, making it the second-most widely read daily newspaper here, across all languages.

May 2011: A Sunday edition was launched, making TODAY a daily read seven days a week.

June 2012: The Sunday edition ceased publication.

Nov 2012: Readership of TODAY hits a peak of 730,000.

Nov 2016: Bucking the trend of declining readership among newspapers, TODAY increased its readership by 19,000 to 548,000 compared to the previous year.

April 2017: TODAY launched a fully digital weekend edition, ceasing its print edition on weekends.

Aug 25, 2017: Mediacorp announced that TODAY will cease print edition, and go fully digital.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.