Hasn’t it been a thrilling year for the national press market? What with all this phone hacking business, here at Cream HQ we’ve been reluctant about leaving voice messages for our own mothers, let alone anyone else. “Yes we’re fine. No, don’t come over. Yes, the bins are out.” But listen to us, we sound like Jeremy Paxman on his day off.

But didn’t everyone shed a little sardonic tear when NOTW printed its last ever copy? It was reported that many people, who never bought the newspaper when it was deemed reasonably acceptable, couldn’t wait to get their hands on the final one, no doubt with Ebay in mind. The UK’s best selling newspaper signed off after 168 years with a front page containing a montage of some of its most famous exclusives and scoops. All the proceeds went to charity and the paper said its final farewell.

But less than four weeks after he and his son were grilled by MPs amid a maelstrom of revelations about the conduct of journalists at The News of the World, Rupert Murdoch stressed his plans to stay in charge and put things right. And no custard pie was going to stop him.
 
Is it even worth talking about other titles when there’s such a stonking great big, fuchsia pink elephant in the middle of the media landscape? But this we must, so according to ABC figures for July published on 12 August, Northern & Shell’s Daily Star Sunday has been the biggest beneficiary percentage-wise of the phone hacking scandal engulfing News International. The Sunday redtop gained almost 400,000 additional copy sales in the first three weeks after News of the World closed to hit 703,631. It represents a staggering 130% lift month on month and a 90% increase on July 2010. So every cloud has a silver lining, at least if you are Richard Desmond.

Last month’s figure is the first time average circulations for the Daily Star Sunday have been above 700,000 since September 2002, the first public audit the newspaper published and also a month dominated by the US announcing plans to invade Iraq.
 
Elsewhere, Trinity Mirror’s three national Sunday newspapers also saw significant lifts in circulation following the closure of News of the World. The Sunday Mirror’s monthly circulation rose 64% to 1,786,454, a 55% lift YoY. The People was up 70% to 806,544, 49% YoY, and in Scotland, average circulation for previously ailing Sunday Mail was up 14% to 411,755, to represent a 6% lift YoY.

Circulations of the mid market Sunday papers also enjoyed a notable lift last month, with Associated’s Mail on Sunday up 15% to 2,255,399 and Northern & Shell’s Express up 14% to 648,806.

The latest figures confirm that the Mail on Sunday has not been the primary preferred new home for displaced News of the World readers, and this has fuelled speculation that the Associated is planning to launch a Sunday tabloid in the coming months to properly capitalise on the new opening in the market.

In the daily quality market The Independent – now under the editorship of the title’s former deputy editor Chris Blackhurst – reported a headline circulation figure of 182,881, an increase of 3.51% month on month, but down 0.59% YoY.

The figures show that cut-price sister title ‘i’, which launched last year, overtook its stable-mate for the first time in July. The Audit Bureau of Circulations revealed that the 20p, cut-price title had an average circulation of 183,677 last month – a month-on-month increase of 6%. The Independent gave away 75,016 copies in the month, helping to inflate its headline circulation, while ‘i’ gave away 7,770.

Across the rest of the daily newspaper market, all papers suffered YoY declines in their circulation. The Financial Times, The Times and The Guardian all suffered double-digit, YoY declines in circulation. The Guardian attributed part of its decline to its decision to cease counting international editions in its audited figure, ahead of it ending publication of the edition in October, adding that its paid-for sale was up 12,033 copies on June. This constituted a 5.1% month-on-month increase and a fall of 2.2% YoY, where its top-line figure detailed a 10.27% YoY drop and a 2.93% month-on-month drop.

In the Sunday Quality market, July 2011 proved to be a strong month, suggesting former News of the World readers might have been willing to trial quality titles. The Independent on Sunday led the charge with an 11% monthly lift to an average circulation of 167,247. The Sunday Telegraph was up 6% to 501,379, while The Observer remained static month on month with 288,842. However, once the loss of the paper’s 18,000 international editions are taken into account as part of its digital-first strategy, The Observer domestic sales were up 6% month on month. 

The Sunday Times slipped nearly 1% to 993,768, marking the first time News International’s biggest quality Sunday newspaper has fallen below the million-mark since records began in 1962, completing a painful set of ABCs for Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Ouch. That must have been like a pie in the face. Sorry. Couldn’t resist…

Yes Rupert. We would look sad too.

By: Carrie Millard

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Perhaps the key to new product success is as simple is putting an ‘i’ in the name – it certainly seems to be the case with the ‘i’ paper, the new daily newspaper from the publishers of The Independent. 

After a shaky start at the end of last year, significant investment in advertising in January and February, including a TV campaign featuring Dom Joly and Jemima Khan, boosted i’s circulation to the 175,000 mark. The latest ABC figures for March only show a 2% dip to just over 170,000, despite the fact that the campaign has come to an end. It looks like i  is here to stay. 

Even more encouraging is the lack of impact that i’s growth has had on The Independent’s circulation, which has only dipped slightly in the 6 months since i’s launch.  In fact, it looks like i’s growth hasn’t been at the expense of any of the quality titles and that it has successfully succeeded in creating a new or, to be more precise, enticing a lapsed audience to pick up a quality newspaper. 

The secret of i’s success is in its identification of a discreet market – in this case, news ‘snackers’ – and in the creation of a quality product to meet their needs – a quick to digest and lighter alternative to the ‘3 course meals’ of news that its rivals offer. 

The latest circulation figures place i just behind its sister title, albeit it with a much smaller proportion of bulks. However, the combined circulation of i and the Independent is now almost 100,000 ahead of that of The Guardian and a similar amount behind The Times. 

 But who is reading i and how suitable might it be as an advertising vehicle for premium and luxury brands?  Ipsos MediaCT figures show 3 characteristics of i’s readers. 

Like all quality press, it has a male bias but not as pronounced as many of its rivals – 45% of i readers are women, compared to 41% of Telegraph readers and 39% of Independent readers. 

In terms of the socio-economic profile of its readers, i is premium, but not as premium as its quality competitors.  82% of i’s readers are ABC1, 1 percentage point higher than The Telegraph but behind The Guardian, The Times and The Independent. 

However, what does make i distinct is that its readership is younger than any other of its competitors – 52% of its readers are 44 or less, compared to 51% of The Guardian’s, 46% of The Times’ and 33% of The Telegraph’s, according to Ipsos MediaCT. 

So where might i fit into advertisers’ plans?  

From a demographic perspective it looks like a good vehicle for those looking to target that elusive younger, affluent male audience and those looking for a premium environment to target a younger audience in general. 

And the environment offers more clues to how it might be used as an effective vehicle.  It’s an informational read on a weekday, so more ‘factual’ brands, such as financial services and automotive, might find it a more effective platform.  It’s also more likely to be read cover to cover than its heavier rivals, so position is likely to be less of a premium. 

Such is the publisher’s confidence that they’ve announced the imminent arrival of iSaturday – a higher priced (30p vs. 20p) edition that will launch on 7th May. The paper will be similar to the weekday edition, but with an extra section called “Leisure and pleasure” which will focus on travel, food, gardening, fashion and style. This will open up the paper to other, lifestyle focused advertisers – although it will be interesting to see how a publication designed to be consumed quickly will translate into the more relaxed environment of weekend reading. 

i has proved that print isn’t dead, and that with the right content and the right marketing support it can still muster a mass following, even amongst younger consumers who are supposed to prefer their news online. 

What will be interesting will be whether, and how, its quality rivals react.  Could the ‘declining’ world of print media see more new launches in what is supposed to be the digital age?

By: Graham Painter

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Every year sees further predictions as to when print media will finally be put out of its misery by its digital cousin. There’s no doubt print media is down, but it’s far from out. In fact, we believe some sectors may stage a bit of a comeback in 2011.

Let’s look at newspapers – the clouds gathering around this sector showed some signs of silver linings in 2010. Take the Evening Standard – a publication on its knees before Alexander Lebedev purchased it and made it free. It’s circulation continues to soar and its advertising revenues continue to climb. It may have diluted its upmarket audience somewhat but it remains a better vehicle for premium brands than rivals such as the Metro.

And who would have believed that 2010 would see the launch of a new national newspaper – i from the Independent. Although its circulation doesn’t pitch it into the big league, it looks like it’s going to double the circulation of its sister title The Independent, delivering a time poor, affluent audience.  And if it becomes free, as we expect it to, we could see another title with soaring circulations. Not something that the digital doomsayers would have predicted.

On the magazine front, the trend to ‘free’ will also grow. The success of Stylist, the sister publication to men’s title Shortlist, has piqued the interest of the big magazine publishers, especially as they see more advertisers flocking to the title. On the whole, magazine circulations and readerships have fared relatively well in the recession, with the exception of the ‘lads mag’ category, but they are declining nonetheless, albeit gradually.  For publishers, the only way to achieve strong growth may be to make existing titles free or launch new ones.

The final category which I think will stage a little renaissance in 2011 is outdoor. Of course, much of the growth in this sector has come from digital, but I think good old fashioned 6 sheets, 48 sheets, bus sides et al may stage a recovery. Why? Because it’s an exceptionally effective interruptive media – people can’t click away, switch off or turn over the page.  Interruptive media may not be fashionable in this era of permission marketing but we all like to be interrupted from time to time – with something useful, entertaining or uplifting.

Killing off something that’s been around for over 500 years is going to take more than a few years, and that’s because in some respects print is superior to its digital cousin.  Whilst digital is individual, interactive, engaging and memorable, print is tactile and tangible, its ad formats can be highly impactful, people spend more time with it and it can cost effectively deliver mass audiences.  The cleverest of publishers has yet to surpass the experience of flicking through a magazine or newspaper online.

Rather than deadly rivals, we like to see print and digital as close friends that can work well together to optimise the effectiveness of campaigns. And we think they’ll be working hand-in-hand in this manner for many years to come.

By: Graham Painter

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