If a publication takes it on itself to report on its peers, then the one thing they should do is get it right. If they report on the media in a section called ‘Media and Marketing’ then they should really redouble their efforts. If you wanted to get an accurate report on the circulation figures of newspapers in Ireland then you should have steered clear of a fairly forgetful bit of reporting in the Sunday
The first month of the year yields little in the way of surprises, but does allow us a little in the way of reflection. The figure that stands out is that the market is back 66,000 copies. That is, naturally the papers that publish monthly figures. We have to wait yet another week for the ‘on the pulse’ publications who will give us an average six month figure for July December 2009, nearly 50 days
The last month of the year shows no improvements. The Redtops had a bit of a disaster – possibly down to poor distribution due to the adverse weather and also as a huge amount sporting events were cancelled – a big draw for their readers. The Daily Star was back over 5,000 month on month and The Sun back by 3,600. The latter is most likely still suffering from the vagaries of the Glass Palace
We had 15 fallers and 10 climbers this month, the fallers in the Sunday department in the main. The Sundays are back 12,000 which, in comparison to other months, it’s a hefty fall. The biggest faller was the News of the World, followed by its companions The Sun and the News of the World. Not insignificant in this figure would be that fact that Dunnes Stores decided during last month that it didn’t like the
Another month and guess what …. Daily Mail fell over the fifty mark, but the sibling had a monster month adding 20,000 to their circulation figure – which is impressive, to say the least. They gave a way some big CD’s during October namely Robbie Williams and Pavarotti and they also signed up Rachel Allen backed with her own 24 page glossy culinary guide – all combined to make a recipe for success in October.
Like it never happened and not a mention of it anywhere -‘like the orphan child’ as they used to say. One day your group has a combined circulation in the Republic of 6,400 (nothing ecstatic I know, but still..). Then the next month it’s a combined 1,400 – but not a jot about it! Is this the Mary Celeste of the September numbers? The circulation of the Daily Record and its big sister the Sunday
August shows a ‘modest’ increase in newspaper sales, the market picking up by 10,000 copies. This was really down to the Sunday market increasing by 13,000 and the morning papers backing by 3,000. In the mornings the Tabloids again took a bit of a hit. August being a strange months for Tabloids. There is a seasonal lull in the ‘trades’, which has a negative effect on their circulations. But this is normally balanced with the
The issue of “Bulk Sales” is being feverously discussed across the pond due to some six national titles having to revise their monthly circulation figures downwards. This happened when the ABC noticed that the claimed bulk figures for the titles were higher than the the actual – you can read more in the Media Guardian on the topic. But what’s the level of bulks here and who uses them? The answer is a little difficult as
No good news, at all. One ray of light is that, bar six, of the 24 papers that kindly enough issues monthly certificates for their circulation figures have increased their month on month figures. The morning papers are up a modest 4,000 copies the Sundays up 17,000. The decreases in the Sunday market was very much driven by a fairly spectacular fall of 16,000 copies for Mail on Sunday. The market is down 6,000 copies
Possibly a month where the recent declines seems to have, in the main, settled down. The Daily Mirror was the big loser in the mornings along with the Daily Mail. The Redtops had a torrid time in recent months, but last month it looks like the declines may have bottomed out. The Mail On Sunday robbed rival The Sunday Times of 5,000 copies in one single month. The News of the World made much welcomed
More of the same! And in some cases, a bit of jockeying for position. The Daily Star started the year ahead of its nearest rival, The Sun, by a short head it’s now falling behind the Red Top leader. Its stable mate, The Star on Sunday, also fell off in the past month as did the other Sunday Redtops, but to a much lesser extent. The Star on Sunday dropped 12% in one month, and
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
Well, looks like the “R” is claiming victims – The Red Tops. Month on month can be explained by at least the fact that they got an increase in March from Cheltenham – which has now vanished into thin air. The downturn certainly is doing the “Reds” no favours. In tumultuous market conditions, its really incumbent on publishers to be proactive. That means we have to wait until July or August to see how the
Interestingly the circulations of the two free newspapers are out, nothing actually interesting in that, but interesting to look at it from a retrospective point of view. Since the bell sounded for round one, the Herald has taken a different stance on its circulation strategy. Firstly it maintained a safe distance in the early months, then reducing numbers again during the mid year migration to sunnier parts and then back on top for the return
The Republic of Ireland Circulations for March, for the papers that participate in monthly ABC’s we released. Collectively they are showing 6.5% year on year decline and losing some 13,000 collectively copies since the beginning of 2009 alone. The tabloids are again taking the brunt of the drop in the morning market. The stereotypical view of the ‘redtop’ reader working on site or in an allied trade may actually be true and the redtop paper’s
