Kauno municipality to spend one million euros on newspaper and magazine publicity

Kauno city municipality administration has announced a new international tender for purchasing publicity and information services in newspapers and magazines, with a budget of up to €934,000 excluding VAT (€1.13 million including VAT) over three years, LRT reports.

The funds will be used to publish municipal announcements and commissioned articles in print media. The procurement notice was published on the European Union’s public procurement portal on July 2, 2026. The contract will be awarded for one year with the possibility of two 12-month extensions, with a maximum annual value of €376,700 including VAT. Bids are expected by August 5.

The move comes as print media advertising in Lithuania is declining faster than any other segment of the media market. According to the 2025 Lithuanian advertising market overview by Fifty5Blue, the total advertising market in the country amounted to €146.8 million last year. Newspapers and magazines received about €10 million, accounting for 7% of total advertising revenue. Print media advertising decreased by 7.7% in newspapers and 9.7% in magazines over the year, while advertising spending shifted to online media (€32.3 million, +4.2%), outdoor, or radio advertising.

Publicity and information in the press are not the same as advertising measured by the survey, and it is likely that these funds do not fall into that category.

In 2023, a similar tender was won by the communication agency UAB “Point Media,” with which the municipality signed a currently valid contract on September 29, 2023. In 2025 alone, the agency received €260,000 from the municipal budget. The winning agency’s proposal included not only price lists for each publication but also subcontractors and their respective shares. UAB “Diena Media News,” publisher of “Kauno diena,” accounted for 54%, UAB “Lietuvos rytas” (national newspaper, its supplement, and magazine) for 32%, and UAB “Naujienų centras,” publisher of the magazine “IQ,” for 6%. The remaining share went to the agency itself.

Specific rates were also provided: a colored article in “Kauno diena” on non-working days costs €2.6 per square centimeter, and a full A4 article in the magazine “IQ” costs €1,276 excluding VAT.

Additionally, in the first half of 2026, the Kauno city municipality administration renewed annual publicity contracts with news portals for nearly €80,000. “Diena Media News,” which operates the portal kauno.diena.lt, secured two contracts worth €18,150 each for banner ads and promotional articles. Contracts worth €14,520 each (including VAT) were signed with the portals “Delfi,” “Lrytas,” and “15min.”

The new procurement covers information printing in five publications: a national newspaper, its Kauno region supplement, a Kauno region newspaper, a culture and art magazine, and a national lifestyle magazine. According to the portal “Kas vyksta Kaune,” the requirements match almost exactly one publication each in at least two positions. The national newspaper supplement for the Kauno region is currently published only by “Lietuvos rytas” – the weekly “Laikinoji sostinė.” The Kauno region newspaper, published at least three times a week with a circulation of at least 10,000 copies, is “Kauno diena.”

The municipality acknowledges that such tenders typically involve not publishers but intermediaries.