SPH Media spends SG$3m in subsidies to support newspaper delivery

This financial year, SPH Media is spending SG$3 million in monthly subsidies to support the doorstep delivery of newspapers across the country. 

In a speech at SPH Media's Chinese Media Group (CMG) annual news awards and Chinese New Year gathering, Chan Yeng Kit, SPH Media chief executive reportedly highlighted the challenges that newspaper vendors encounter, including rising costs of delivery, the decline in print subscriptions in a digital era and high turnover amongst newspaper vendors. 

According to The Straits Times, SPH media has been giving newspaper vendors SG$4 subsidy per month for each doorstep delivery to a direct subscriber since April last year to help vendors deal with the challenges. The subsidy will be in place until March 2025. 

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Chan reportedly noted the role of journalism in a "post-truth" and "post-literate" world, pointing out CMG's role of supporting the Chinese community in Singapore. 

In October 2023, the Singapore News Vendors' Association (SNVA) and Singapore Newspaper Distributors Association (SNDA) said their earnings had taken a hit following rising costs and the decline in print subscriptions, according to The Straits Times.

The fall in earnings had reportedly resulted in stationary pay for workers who had been earning between SG$200 to SG$700 per month for working around four hours a day. To assist vendors, SPH Media had reportedly implemented a SG$3 per month subsidy for each doorstep delivery to a direct subscriber since October 2022. 

In November 2024, SPH Media laid off 34 employees as it restructures its company's technology division. The cuts would affect technology workers across various teams and ranks, and account for about 10% of employees in the technology division, according to an internal email broadcast sent to staff by SPH Media chief operating officer Loh Yuh Yiing and chief technology officer Kaythaya Maw.

"Following the media restructuring in December 2021, we had to urgently and aggressively ramp up out capacity and investment across tech," the email read as seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. The note added that having spent the past three months reviewing its tech operations and cost structures, the company sought first to rationalise and tighten non-payroll expenditures where possible.

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