Archive for the 'Press News' Category

Mixed fortunes in a circulation war of attrition

Published by CiaraM on September 6, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments

Among the odd trends to emerge from the new set of print sales figures was that some British newspapers are performing better in Ireland than they are at home.

While all the main Irish national newspapers suffered sales declines in the first six months of 2011 – and two are no longer on the shelves – the Mirror group in particular has been growing here, with its daily title up 2.5 per cent and Sunday Mirror up 9.3 per cent.

The figures predate the closure of the News of the World. Meanwhile, the Daily Star and the Sun were both down more than 7 per cent.

The Sunday Business Post fell by 3.6 per cent while the Sunday Independent dropped by the same percentage. Meanwhile, the Sunday World lost 7.6 per cent of its sales.

This has been a difficult six months for the press sector, with both the tabloid Star Sunday title and the Sunday Tribune ceasing to publish. The British version of the Star Sunday has continued to sell here, but has notched up much smaller numbers than the Irish version, averaging 28,458.

Associated Newspapers has been bombarding the market with CD and magazine giveaways this year, particularly on Sunday. Sales of the Irish Mail on Sunday were stable at 113,160.

The Sunday Times was down 0.8 per cent in Ireland, producing a much better result than in Britain, where its overall sales have dropped by 8 per cent.  

The Irish Times had the smallest decline among the daily broadsheets (managing to hold above 100,000 copies after a drop of 4.5 per cent). The Irish Examiner was down by 7.1 per cent and the Irish Independent fell by 7.4 per cent.

However, the two big daily broadsheet papers are relying more on bulk sales to achieve these numbers; the Irish Times’ full price sales were 86,919, 5,000 fewer than in June 2010. The Irish Independent achieved just 108,961 sales at full price, compared with 121,628 in June 2010.

Differing data for web figures Figures from Comscore which indicated that the Irish Independent website was less visited by Irish people than those of British papers were based on mismatching data, it has emerged.

Unpublished figures seen by The Sunday Business Post indicated that 563,000 people visited the Independent.ie site in June on the basis of an updated counting method (compared to 612,000 for the Irish Times and 423,000 for the Daily Mail).

JNRS Figures Show 3% decline

Published by CiaraM on August 19, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments Tags: .

The latest set of figures from the Joint National Readership Survey (JNRS) showed that 2.94m people or 82% of the adult population regularly read a newspaper either on a daily or weekly basis. While this compares with 85.9% at the end of June 2010, the decline mirrors a trend that is evident in pretty much every other mature newspaper market in the world.

 The JNRS, which is carried out by Millward Brown Lansdowne covers the 12 month period up until the end of June 2011.

“There’s no evidence that people are giving up reading newspapers,” says Frank Cullen chief executive of the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI). “If there’s a slight dip in the readership figures it’s mainly down to economic issues, in particular the fact that there are now fewer people in work and therefore fewer newspapers being shared around the workplace.” He goes on to add that, “the latest JNRS is actually very encouraging, with 64% of people saying they are completely loyal to their newspaper and would not change.

“Cullen points out that the latest figures also show that 75% of all students and 77% of 15-24 year olds regularly read a newspaper. “Like in other countries, our young people source their news and information from a variety of media including the internet, social media and television. Unlike most other countries, however, our young people are also extremely enthusiastic readers – that’s a positive reflection on our society and it’s something we can be very happy with. We have a range of Newspapers in Education initiatives going on, and in that context the latest JNRS is very encouraging.

In the daily market, all the main papers shed readers during the period under review with the exception of the Irish Daily Mirror which saw a 1.5% increase in its daily readers to finish on 207,000.

 The Irish Independent, remained the most widely read daily newspaper with a readership of 500,000, a decline of around 10.7% on the comparable figure in 2010. It was followed by the Irish Daily Star on 372,000 while The Irish Times, meanwhile, weighed in with an average readership figure of 324,000, a drop of around 9.7% on the previous period.

The JNRS figures also show that the most widely read newspaper in the country continued to be the Sunday Independent with 971,000 readers. It was followed by its IN&M stablemate the Sunday World on 807,000. With 539,000 readers at the end of June, the now defunct Irish News of the World demonstrated that there’s readership gains to be made by the other newspapers over the next six months.

Elsewhere in the Sunday market, which has seen the departure of the Irish Star on Sunday and the Sunday Tribune since the last book, the Irish Mail on Sunday weighed in with 330,000 readers while the Sunday Times. The only Sunday title to record growth during the period was the Irish Sunday Mirror which added 13,000 readers to finish at 159,000.

 More in dept figures on the JNRS will be made available to clients in the near future.

Fortunegreen annual loss narrows to €630,000

Published by CiaraM on August 19, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The annual loss recorded by the morning freesheet newspaper publisher Fortunegreen Ltd narrowed significantly last year to €630,458, latest accounts show. This compared with a loss of €2.3 million in 2009 at the company, which publishes the daily Metro Herald freesheet in Dublin.

Fortunegreen is owned equally by The Irish Times Ltd, Independent News & Media (INM) and DMG Ireland Holdings Ltd, which publishes the Daily Mail.

Managing director Paul Crosbie said the newspaper was budgeting to reach breakeven this year. “We’ve had a good first half of the year and are on budget,” he said. “If that continues in the second half of the year then we’re hoping to achieve a non-loss-making scenario.” Mr Crosbie said the improved financial performance resulted from increased sales and tight cost management control. Metro Herald had been “self sufficient” since January 2010 following the merger of the then rival freesheet titles, Metro and Herald AM. “There’s been good progress made since the merger and 2010 was a step in the right direction.” Mr Crosbie added that turnover rose last year by 10 per cent to €4.2 million and it has increased by 8 per cent in the year to date.

The abridged financial statements show that Fortunegreen closed 2010 with accumulated losses of €14.7 million. This compared with a deficit of €14.1 million at the end of 2009. Fortunegreen’s accounts state that purchases from The Irish Times Ltd amounted to €647,220 during the year while sales to the company were €974. Purchases from companies related to DMG Ireland Holdings Ltd amounted to €722,893 while sales to those companies were €44,215. Metro Herald’s average circulation for the past 12 months was 63,250.

Launch of “M” magazine

Published by CiaraM on June 7, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The Irish Daily Mirror are launching a new quarterly female magazine called “M” – designed as a new platform for brands seeking to target young, vibrant female readers midweek. It will be inserted on Wednesdays with the Irish Daily Mirror, with the first issue appearing on 22nd June 2011.

The magazine will include features on fashion, beauty, food, celeb gossip, real life, cooking, health and fitness, gardening and travel – a nice additional read for the Mirrors already 89,000 female audience.  Peter Barry, advertising manager of the Mirror Group ROI said “We saw a gap in the market to target women with a lifestyle magazine mid week, so we conducted a number of focus groups and TGI research to get to the core of what our females are looking for in a magazine and built  ‘M’ around these findings”. Media support will kick start the launch of the magazine in early June.

‘Go Rail’

Published by CiaraM on May 11, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Depending on your point of view, a long train journey can be either a fabulous opportunity to relax and watch the world go by, or the most boring few hours of your life. Whichever category you’re in, Irish Rail’s publication of a new magazine for passengers is surely a welcome development. ‘Go Rail’ is a glossy magazine designed to “engage and entertain” passengers. Irish Rail claims it is an “exciting lifestyle magazine covering business, travel, food, celebrity, sport, music, fashion, leisure and more”.

It will be published quarterly and distributed free of charge on every train in the Republic of Ireland as well as at all the major train stations. The magazine is to be published by ‘Hot Press’ publisher Osnovina. ‘Go Rail’ editor Mairin Sheehy said: “With features on sport, music, fashion and celebrity as well as the arts, business and finance, no matter what your interests, the promise is that ‘Go Rail’ will make great reading.” A spokesperson for Irish Rail added: “We want our customers to enjoy every intercity journey to the full.”

Loyalty to Newspapers

Published by karl on March 7, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Despite the fall in sales, consumers still spent €7m every week to purchase national titles. In a week when it was confirmed the Sunday Tribune will not be published again, the constant refrain these days is that all newspapers are heading for the graveyard. However, the latest circulation and readership figures shows that some publications remain a very powerful media force. Newspaper sales did fall in 2010, but consumers still parted with €7 million every week to purchase a national title. The latest data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations shows that, on average, 570,000 daily newspapers are bought in the Republic from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday, this increases to 900,000. For provincial weeklies, the total number purchased is 480,000. That’s a total of 4.8 million buying decisions every week for a newsprint product. According to the JNRS survey which monitors newspaper reading habits, 84 per cent of the adult population regularly read paid-for daily or Sunday newspapers.  An estimated 1.8 million adults regularly read a daily newspaper, and 2.4 million adults regularly read a Sunday the future of the newspaper business in Ireland.

Dublin People get ABC

Published by karl on March 7, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The Dublin-based local newspapers Northside and Southside People, are now ABC membership approved and official audited circulation figures for the titles will be published in May.  North Dublin Publications, publisher of the weekly titles, has been in operation since May 1987 and its three titles – Northside People (east), Northside People (west) and Southside People have a combined print run of 120,000 copies.  Distribution of the titles is split between door-to-door delivery and through prominent pick-up points. The titles are printed by Webprint in Cork and distributed by Door 2 Door, based in Ballymount, Dublin.  Maria Nulty, general sales manager with North Dublin Publications, said the company wanted to unpin its confidence in the strength of it circulation by applying for ABC membership.  “In these challenging times, it is more important than ever to invest in your product and offer your clients added value. We believe that having ABC figures to back up our circulation claims will help attract new business for our titles, particularly from advertising agencies looking for cost-effective solutions for their clients in the Dublin area.”

Funding of The Sunday Tribune ceased

Published by CiaraM on February 14, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

On Feb 1st, the Independent News & Media Group (INM) decided to cease funding of The Sunday Tribune. Receiver Jim Luby announced the paper would not go on sale for four weeks while a buyer was being sought. Advertisements seeking a new investor for the paper appear in today’s Sunday Business Post, and will also appear in tomorrow’s Guardian. Salaries are being paid and contributors’ fees covered until the end of February. The Sunday Tribune may yet attract fresh investment, and editor Nóirín Hegarty and managing director Michael Roche have emphasised this hope repeatedly.

Star Sunday

Published by CiaraM on January 17, 2011 in Press News. 0 Comments Tags: .

Early in January the Board of Independent Star Limited has taken the decision to discontinue publication of our Sunday edition, The Irish Daily Star Sunday, and concentrate our efforts exclusively on our six days a week offering, and Ireland’s most popular daily tabloid, The Irish Daily Star.

 Star Sunday was launched in October 2003 and enjoyed some success in attracting a dedicated, predominately young readership of 213,000 with audited sales of 54,224 (ABC Jan-Jun 2010).  The title, however, never reached the critical mass to be a profitable venture in the Sunday market, which is incredibly competitive with 17 other newspapers available.  The Irish Daily Star, meanwhile, continues to trade profitably and provides a unique voice to Irish readers. With forecast profits for 2010 of almost €6m in what was a challenging year for Irish media, The Star has recently been conferred with the distinction of being Ireland’s Newspaper of the Year.

 Diarmuid O’Leary, the Advertising Director of the Star, took the opportunity to thank people for their support of the Sunday venture over the past number of years.

The Sunday Times – Partners Rugby!

Published by karl on November 12, 2010 in Press News. 0 Comments

The Sunday Times has signed a partnership deal to become the official print media partner for the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup rugby competitions in Ireland.   The partnership is with ERC, the organising body for the two competitions.  To mark the deal, The Sunday Times will be running numerous reader competitions for match tickets for both tournaments throughout the season. The newspaper also recently gave readers a free double-sided poster with both the Heineken Cup and Amlin Cup Challenge fixtures for the season.  “The Sunday Times is delighted to secure the partnership with ERC to become the official media partner of the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup in Ireland,” said Michelle McCarthy, brand manager of the newspaper. “The Sunday Times has excellent sports and rugby writing credentials with our team of hugely influential rugby writers and commentators including Stuart Barnes, Stephen Jones, Peter O’Reilly and Denis Walsh.”

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