O Tempo

The newspaper O Tempo was founded in 1996, when Grupo Editorial Sempre Editora, owned by the SADA group, inaugurated their own printing plant and launched a daily “jornal de referência” or “quality paper” intended to compete with the traditional Estado de Minas, owned by Grupo Diários Associados.

In a few years, the newspaper’s circulation surpassed that of its rival and, despite having a distribution focus on Minas Gerais state, it became the eight largest newspaper in circulation in Brazil an the 4th among “quality papers”, behind Folha de S. Paulo, O Globo and Zero Hora.

Similarly to what happened to a tabloid owned by the group, Super Notícias, O Tempo sales received a boost in sales from a strategy involving, on one hand, marketing and sales campaigns and, on the other hand, news formats and content.

The group has invested in readership loyalty through subscription campaigns in which sales representatives would travel to cities in the state’s countryside to introduce the newspaper. The campaign involved the distribution of souvenirs to new customers and a subscriber’s club, with discounts and benefits. Currently, 95% of its sales are made through subscription.

Regarding its format, the newspaper, first published in standard size, changed to a tabloid format in 2008, allowing for easier handling.

O Tempo prioritizes political and economic news, in all scales. The themes, however, are approached from a “‘mineiro’ observation of the events”, that is, they are oriented by a principle of proximity and regionality. That means that, even when referring to issues on other scales, the articles put emphasis on the ways these themes relate to the state and the agents and institutions in Minas Gerais, which might be overlooked by other national media. These other vehicles tend to prioritize Rio de Janeiro’s and São Paulo’s protagonism.