Press Round-Up – April
ABCS
The national newspaper’s circulation figures for April once again confirm the general downward trend of the market, with the only notable exception being for the mid-market titles.
The most encouraging ABC figure among the quality titles was recorded for the Independent on Sunday, which increased by 13.6% on April’90 to 377,000. However,circulation for the Independent fell by 7.0% year-on-year. The Sunday Times, Observer and FT recorded slight increases against April’90.
All of the mid-market newspapers except Today recorded a year-on-year increase. Despite Today’s simultaneous relaunch and relocation to Wapping on March 25 its circulation has continued to fall. A figure of 478,000 was recorded for April’91, down by 17.4% on April’90.
Once again all the popular newspapers dropped circulation year-on-year. The Daily Mirror, the Daily Star and the Sun all fell by around 6.5%, increasing speculation that they are loosing readers to the mid-market titles. The Sunday Sport’s circulation continues to fall quite dramatically, down by 18.5% on April’90.
The People’s recent revamp, which included the closure of its magazine in March, appears to have done little to improve sales, which were down by 10.9% on April’90.
The Evening Standard experienced a slight fall in circulation against April’90, down by 1.0% to 496,000.
MEAL Pagination The MEAL national newspaper average pagination figures for April’91 reflect the general decline in advertising, compared with the same month in 1990.
The most notable common trends among the quality dailies are a decline in classified advertising and a fall in their total number of pages. However classified advertising in the popular and mid-market titles has remained fairly stable, together with a general increase in total pages.
The proportion of classified advertising increased slightly among the majority of Sunday titles and the total number of pages varied less than for the dailies.
The effect of News International’s introduction of on-the-run colour is evident when comparing the April’91 pagination figures with April’90. The Sun, News of the World, Times and Sunday Times all increased their colour display advertising year-on-year. For example the News of the World carried no colour advertising a year ago but in April’91 4% of the paper was given over to colour advertising.
The Mirror Group titles appear to have been hit hardest by NI’s introduction of on-the-run colour, with the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People all loosing colour display advertising year-on-year. General Several of the quality newspapers instigated cover price increases during April. The Sunday Times, Observer and Independent on Sunday all increased by 10p and the Times increased by 5p.
The Sun launched a new London supplement called The Answer on April 12, which consists soley of classified advertising. As yet the Sun has not given any indication of how the launch has effected sales within the London region.
During April negotiations took place which have led to the Newspaper Publishers’ Association agreeing in principle to the establishment of a newspaper marketing bureau. Such a bureau would encourage cross promotion between titles and instigate a move away from television advertising. One of the aims of the bureau would be to promote newspaper advertising as a viable alternative to TV. However, although the principles of a marketing bureau have been agreed no firm commitment has yet been made.