Ara (newspaper)

History and profile

The first issue of Ara came out on 28 November 2010, selling out all 120,000 print copies.

Ara, as 2017, has 40.000 subscribers. Subscriptions are Aras main source of income (41 per cent), having surpassed advertising revenue in 2015. Revenue from readers is also 2.5 times more significant than income from newsstand sales.

In 2017 ARA grew by 10 per cent and was the only newspaper based in Barcelona or Madrid that managed to grow at all. In March 2018 its readership rose to 129K readers, which represents a 57.3 per cent growth, year-on-year.

Ara has received multiple awards including :

• 2013 – Premi Nacional de Comunicació (Premi Nacional de Mitjans d’arrel digital category )
• 2015 – European Newspaper Award, in the regional newspaper category
• 2015 – Ciutat de Barcelona award, in Media category, for Carles Capdevila, with a reference on his role as one of ARA's founders
• 2016 – Premi Nacional de Comunicació award for Carles Capdevila, with a reference on his role as one of ARA's founders
• 2017 – 11 awards in the 19th edition of the European Newspaper Awards, three of which for innovation, thanks to the special issues where drawings or works of art were used instead of photographs.
• 2017 – ARA received three ÑH newspaper design prizes (awarded by the Society for News Design) for its online reporting work.

Editorial policy and political alignment

Aras editorial policies are not considered to be supportive of any particular party or specific political ideology. Hence, the newspaper is generally considered as centrist regarding the left-right divide and strongly Catalanist regarding the issue of relations between Spain and Catalonia. Ara aims to cater to the community of socially committed, politically concerned and culturally active citizens.

Expansion

The newspaper is printed in Barcelona and distributed throughout Catalonia. Since 2011, distribution was launched also on the Balearic Islands, soon becoming the most widely-read newspaper in Catalan language in the region. In February 2012, distribution was extended to some areas of the Valencian Community, especially in the Province of Castelló and in the city of Valencia.

Ara offers selected news items in English and Spanish.

References

References

1. (22 November 2013). "L'ARA es consolida com el tercer diari més llegit a Catalunya, segons el CEO". Ara.cat.
2. "Tres anys de periodisme – Ara.cat". Ara.cat.
3. (5 October 2013). "L'ARAbalears.cat supera els 100.000 usuaris únics al mes". Ara.cat.
4. "Ara.cat sets new all-time readership record for online Catalan language newspapers". Ara.cat.
5. (18 May 2013). "Print and online daily ''Ara'' is reaching the 'politically concerned' community in Catalonia". Journalism.co.uk.
6. (18 April 2018). "L'ARA puja a 129.000 lectors i marca el major creixement d'un diari a l'Estat". Ara.cat.
7. "Premis Nacionals 2013".
8. "21st European Newspaper Award – European Newspapers of the Year – European Newspaper Award".
9. "Mitjans de comunicació – PREMIS CIUTAT DE BARCELONA".
10. "Premis Nacionals 2016".
11. (21 November 2017). "ARA wins 11 European Newspaper awards for design and content".
12. "L' ARA, guardonat amb quatre premis pel seu disseny". Ara.cat.
13. (2015-09-07). "Quién es quién en la prensa catalana".