The latest paper circulation figures for January have been released in the last few days. As we all know the national press has had a turbulent time over the past year and in particular with the News of The World closing there was much speculation as to where all that paper’s readers would go.
At least for now it seems the dust is starting to settle with the Sunday Mirror absorbing a large number of those left seeking an alternative to their Sunday spread. Figures show the Sunday Mirror has enjoyed an almost 36% year on year increase in circulation of approximately 700,000.
A big question is where have all the others readers gone? The News of The World closed with 2.6million loyal followers, which means that there should be a huge opportunity for the Sundays. However, even the Sunday Express only managed to take over a small proportion of this with a 100,000 increase in sales which seems to indicate there are a lot of people who simply don’t want to buy and read a Sunday paper anymore.
This raises some other questions. With the scandal at The Sun on-going, will people start to turn their backs on brands they’ve remained loyal to years? Will they choose a different medium to absorb the daily headlines or are people simply not that interested in the world around them anymore?
The January circulation figures show that there is only one daily paper to see a marked increase - the i. The i being the sister paper of the Independent, aimed at readers and lapsed readers of all ages, and commuters with limited time, launched on 26th October 2010. This is another strong month for the i backed by a considerable spend on TV which has resulted in a 40% year on year increase and improvements in circulation every month. The i sells for only 20 pence, 30% cheaper than The Sun and 80% cheaper than The Times. Therefore it appears the formula is right, a quick, quality read at an affordable price.
What will be interesting is how other titles react? There are rumours circulating that The Sun may launch a new Sunday alternative and will some of the other Daily papers follow the same route of producing a low cost alternative like the I? It remains to be seen…
*ABC- Audit Bureau of Circulations
Showing posts with label news international. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news international. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
The first step in a revolution. Or a bold experiment doomed to failure?
So it's finally happened. After months of speculation the first of the UK national newspapers will start charging for online content from June.
It's a brave move which will be watched with interest by many different parties. And despite the confident soundbites coming out of NI there's no doubt that this is a high-risk move.
However it's not necessarily as risky as some are making out. Only the quality papers, which attract an online savvy audience, will be going paid-for initially.
TimesOnline currently has 1.22m daily users. Even if only 5% of these convert they would bring in £1.8m on a daily pass. The initial success of TimesPlus suggests that these numbers aren't just pipedreams.
Moreover the new Times and Sunday Times sites will be very popular with advertisers. In a similar way that paid-for papers bring in a better quality response than the freesheets so NI will have an effective monopoly in this sector and could theoretically charge accordingly.
If Murdoch follows through with his promise of improving content to differentiate his sites from other publishers' then NI may well succeed in stealing consumers away from the free sites. It's no coincidence that this announcement comes hot on the heels of the BBC's declaration that they will be significantly reducing their online offerings.
But it still feels like a very risky move. TimesOnline simply does not inspire the same brand loyalty as Guardian.co.uk, MailOnline and the behemoth that is the BBC. While there are so many other free alternatives out there it's hard to see what NI can offer consumers to put themselves far enough above their competitors to justify charging for content.
Chris Skone James, Senior Planner Buyer
It's a brave move which will be watched with interest by many different parties. And despite the confident soundbites coming out of NI there's no doubt that this is a high-risk move.
However it's not necessarily as risky as some are making out. Only the quality papers, which attract an online savvy audience, will be going paid-for initially.
TimesOnline currently has 1.22m daily users. Even if only 5% of these convert they would bring in £1.8m on a daily pass. The initial success of TimesPlus suggests that these numbers aren't just pipedreams.
Moreover the new Times and Sunday Times sites will be very popular with advertisers. In a similar way that paid-for papers bring in a better quality response than the freesheets so NI will have an effective monopoly in this sector and could theoretically charge accordingly.
If Murdoch follows through with his promise of improving content to differentiate his sites from other publishers' then NI may well succeed in stealing consumers away from the free sites. It's no coincidence that this announcement comes hot on the heels of the BBC's declaration that they will be significantly reducing their online offerings.
But it still feels like a very risky move. TimesOnline simply does not inspire the same brand loyalty as Guardian.co.uk, MailOnline and the behemoth that is the BBC. While there are so many other free alternatives out there it's hard to see what NI can offer consumers to put themselves far enough above their competitors to justify charging for content.
Chris Skone James, Senior Planner Buyer
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Will local newspapers succeed in charging for online access?
Johnson Press’s decision to trial subscription on some of its local sites, including the Northumberland Gazette, is a sensible experiment, and particularly interesting given the recently announced plans for News International titles to do the same.
The idea of local newspapers charging for content might just be supported by the apparent early success of local titles such as Newport Daily News in charging for content.
However, it would be dangerous to assume that if something works in the USA, it will work in the UK as well. The structure of the newspaper industries in the two countries is very different, with local newspapers being held in far higher importance in the USA than they are in the UK, partly because of the absence of national newspaper brands, and partly because of the locally focussed attitude of many Americans.
Nonetheless local newspapers do have a hold on the UK psyche. And local newspapers have content that is not easy to find elsewhere. If you want to learn how Steven Young gave Choppington Travellers Rest the lead at home to Woodhorn Lane, then there are few places you will be able to find that information outside the Northumberland Gazette.
The question for Johnson Press is – are sufficient numbers of people willing to pay to find the latest on sporting prowess of the Choppington Travellers Rest soccer team.
Maybe. Certainly Johnson Press seem to have chosen an attractive price point, £5 for 3 months. If you are willing to pay something, surely you will be willing to pay that.
And the way that the Northumberland Gazette offers you a tantalising view of the first few lines of the content is surely going to work better than the approach taken by Newport Daily News where only the headlines on the front page can be read.
But Johnson will have to do better with their sign up process. At the moment visitors:
1.see an invitation to subscribe
2.and are then pointed to a log in page
3.which contains another button to a page where users register
4.after which they go to their email
5.where they confirm registration by clicking on a link
6.which takes them back to the newspaper
7.where they click on a story
8.and then see the subscribe button (again!)
9.and then (and only then) are able subscribe.
Come on guys, that’s just silly!
And remember, even if Johnson Press do make this work for their local papers, there is absolutely no reason to assume that the same will be true for the News International titles, which may well prove to be far more “substitutable”.
Jeremy Swinfen Green, Digital Director
jeremy@mcand.co.uk
The idea of local newspapers charging for content might just be supported by the apparent early success of local titles such as Newport Daily News in charging for content.
However, it would be dangerous to assume that if something works in the USA, it will work in the UK as well. The structure of the newspaper industries in the two countries is very different, with local newspapers being held in far higher importance in the USA than they are in the UK, partly because of the absence of national newspaper brands, and partly because of the locally focussed attitude of many Americans.
Nonetheless local newspapers do have a hold on the UK psyche. And local newspapers have content that is not easy to find elsewhere. If you want to learn how Steven Young gave Choppington Travellers Rest the lead at home to Woodhorn Lane, then there are few places you will be able to find that information outside the Northumberland Gazette.
The question for Johnson Press is – are sufficient numbers of people willing to pay to find the latest on sporting prowess of the Choppington Travellers Rest soccer team.
Maybe. Certainly Johnson Press seem to have chosen an attractive price point, £5 for 3 months. If you are willing to pay something, surely you will be willing to pay that.
And the way that the Northumberland Gazette offers you a tantalising view of the first few lines of the content is surely going to work better than the approach taken by Newport Daily News where only the headlines on the front page can be read.
But Johnson will have to do better with their sign up process. At the moment visitors:
1.see an invitation to subscribe
2.and are then pointed to a log in page
3.which contains another button to a page where users register
4.after which they go to their email
5.where they confirm registration by clicking on a link
6.which takes them back to the newspaper
7.where they click on a story
8.and then see the subscribe button (again!)
9.and then (and only then) are able subscribe.
Come on guys, that’s just silly!
And remember, even if Johnson Press do make this work for their local papers, there is absolutely no reason to assume that the same will be true for the News International titles, which may well prove to be far more “substitutable”.
Jeremy Swinfen Green, Digital Director
jeremy@mcand.co.uk
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