Sales of popular weeklies reflect the weaker economy...

The press market is another sector which is feeling the impact of the economic slowdown, as revealed by the fact that the sales of most opinion forming weeklies in 2002 plummeted. The 2002 market leader was Axel Springer's Newsweek Polska which on average sold 252,120 copies against 325,000 in 2001, followed by Polityka (223,900 versus 251,000) and Wprost (188,100 against 222,000). It seems however, that fourth ranking Przeglad stands little chance of catching up with its competitors as its last year sales reached a mere average of 51,150 copies. The last quarter of 2002 proved lucky for Wprost, which despite the downward trend, was able to increase its sales by 4,000 copies, whereas the rest of the players ended the period in negative area. Newsweek Polska's gross profit in advertisement sales was zl. 75.65 million, with Wprost and Polityka reaching respectively zl. 84.64 million and zl. 78 million. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) J.K.