Local Newspapers

Irish Regional Newspapers Circulation Jan June 2011

Firstly, apologies for the “stat attack”, but there are 43 local papers audited so there really is no choice but to have plenty of data. Just by way of explanation: there two totals on the bottom of the chart. The first are “Year Totals”, they are simply the total of all the local papers audited that year. The more important figure is the like for like figures. They take the papers audited in 2011 and look back at those papers over the previous years so that we can make direct comparisons. So, looking at the Like for Like sales we see that the market declined by 10% year on year and 30% over a four year period.      Only two papers managed to increase their sales in the 12 months. They were the Roscommon Herald and the Enniscorthy Guardian increasing 9% and 6% respectively.  It should be noted that some of the papers who don’t have a figure haven’t necessarily ceased trading. There are eleven publications that have recorded declines in double digits. The worst performing is the Leinster Leader which dropped 20% in the twelve months and nearly half it’s circulation in four years.  

Irish Regional Newspaper Circulations July-December 2010

In the regional department only four paid titles managed to stay the right side of last years figure. In the main the local papers in and around the Leinster region seem to have faired out the worst (Callow People –22%, Leinster Leader –19% Fingal Independent – 15% etc). Each of the regional's will have their own unique story, unique to their particular area. Naturally there will be a element of the macro economics in that yarn, but there will also be a huge element of the micro economics in there as well. Local factory closure, by-passes etc – elements unique to a particular area but that could have a huge effect on one particular title. No point going line by line here (thank God). Like for like: these are papers that have been audited every year since 2007, 48 titles. Its the only comparative one can draw from these figures. Titles with no figures simple are not audited any longer and may not necessarily be closed.

Regional Newspaper Readership

The latest JNLR report had a hidden secret not related to radio but to “Local Papers” in their SIG data (special interest data). The questionnaire throws up some light on the demographics of the local Newspaper reader. Managing to reach 64% of the population is pretty impressive – but this would take in the established local papers and the even smaller circulated papers making an appearance in a limited geographic area every two weeks.  But the figures give you a picture of the profile of the local newspaper reader – older, rural, C2DE or farmers. Its definitely a ‘family’ product and not seen so much in a single household. The capital has a poor take-up – but they have a tendency to by the nationals and did the person in Dublin being quizzed see the Herald as a Local paper?   

Irish Regional Newspaper Circulation Jan June 2010

The only reason I used the phrase ‘regional newspapers’ in the title was because that’s how the phrase will be. They should be called (rebranded) the less parochial “weekly” or “local newspapers”, but I digress. Because of the chopping an changing in this market, it’s difficult to get an exact handle on it. The only way is to compare “like with like” on the different years. So, like with like (ie the papers that were around in ‘08 and are still publishing a figure today) – the market is down 54,000 copies per week or 15%. Similarly, ‘09 to ‘10, the market is down 27,000 or 8%. The highlights would be that the big drop was in the Kerryman down over 2,000 copies and nearly 5,000 over two years. From these figure it would seem that they were on their own in the Kingdom, but they are not. They have plenty of competition from publications that are not ABC audited and, therefore, are not published here. (The same can be said for every county, so sometimes the “competition factor” is not obvious as it would be on the ground). The Leinster Leader and Meath Chronicle also took a dip (possibly attributed to foreign nationals returning/leaving?). Again, without the laborious line by line approach – one point: The local press cannot sustain a 7% decrease year on year. The local (or regional press as they insist on) are partly to blame. There is no sustained marketing effort collectively to promote their medium – one that’s held in high regard at a local level, but with a certain derision from the Dublin media buying...

Regional Newspaper Promotion

It’s particularly refreshing to see a media group being collectively proactive but alas, not on this Island. All media are going through a torrid time, but some more torrid than others. A case in point would be the ‘Regional’ newspapers who have never really been flavour of the month with agencies and press buyers alike anyway and even less favoured in recessionary times. Visions of a somewhat parochial and staid medium may be the cause of that, coupled with a body that is less than cohesive and certainly not boisterous when it comes to selling itself. Individually, there are many exceptions to this rule, but as a ‘medium’, they seem down the pecking order. Considering the Regional papers collectively reach 44% of the population (63% if you exclude Dublin and Cork) the medium should be treated with a little more respect . The parochial which it is sometimes labelled is certainly not borne out in statistics. More 15-18 year olds read a Regional paper than read the The Sunday Independent, Sunday World, Sunday Tribune and Sunday Business Post – combined.  They also deliver a combined audited circulation of 361,000.  Our friends across the pond have over 1,300 local newspapers under a particularly proactive and innovative organisation in the form of the Newspaper Society (NS). The Society is charged with the promotion of the ‘local’ medium in the UK and they have just launched a new campaign that extols the virtues of local press. Full page ads in the Regional press over Easter will try...

Regional Newspaper Circulation 2009

Regional papers are feeling the pinch with a year on year decline in the order of 8%. But some papers are really feeling the squeeze. As a group, of those that are audited, they are back nearly 30,000 copies. The table below is a bit information overload – but it’s worth looking at the data at that level.

Regional Papers Websites

I was looking at offerings of some of the regional web sites and, in general, how they try and market themselves through the web (for both print and online). It's was an interesting exercise and some of my observations are posted here. The print edition of any of the regional newspapers is bounded by its franchise area. Some manage to get a little further than that, maybe even as far as the news stand in Easons on a weekly basis. But it their information franchise, their local information franchise, extends much much further. Look at the Irish/County Diaspora - they are scattered to the four corners, not only globally, but nationally as well. There would be a natural curiosity in any migrant (see previous post on Polish Websites) to seek out information from 'home' and not only national but local as well. As part of my look at the web offerings of the local papers (I'll return to that expression again!) I looked at two simple expressions - "[county] news" and "[county] newspaper" to see who scores well under these terms in their franchise and why. The terms are particularly broad and wont suit every local paper. Here is not the platform to go through each local nuance, so I have to be broad. Also, I edited it down to the top two websites in each county, otherwise the list would be simply too long. Should anyone want a more comprehensive list (and why!) - just contact me and I will get you what I have. In the main most of the regional papers scored well when the county terms were used. There were a few anomalies county by county but rather than go...