There’s no getting away from the growing drama surrounding
News International and the closure of the News of The World. With new
revelations each day and a growing number of high profile individuals falling
on their swords we are being exposed to the kind of drama normally played out
on screen.
So what happens to clients that relied upon the News of the
World as one of their key national press titles for advertising? Where should
they go now? As you can imagine, these are key questions that have been
floating around our office and between us and clients since the NOTW closure.
NOTW delivered a large audience across a wide demographic – it was a tabloid
yet still managed to hit the ABC1 market. No other Sunday came close to the
7.5m readers each week and only the Mail on Sunday pipped it’s ABC1 readership
(3.17m vs 2.93m). In comparison, the Sunday Times only manages 2.87m ABC1s. The
public will be testing different titles to see what they like & what they
don’t like and in the next few weeks they will probably be picking titles by
headline/front page alone. It will take a while for the dust to settle and for
the public to establish a new relationship with a Sunday tabloid.
As you would guess the other Sunday Tabloids are hot on the
tails of this new ‘floating’ audience – the Mail have run a direct mail
campaign, the Mirror have been doing a massive push for new readers and the
Sunday Express have reduced their cover price. But has it paid off? Well early
indications are that it may have done…
Sunday Mirror Circulated 1.94 million that’s 835,000
extra copies sold = 75.6% increase The People Circulated 890,000
that’s 411,00 extra copies sold = 86.0% increase Mail On SundayCirculated
2.4 million that’s 400,000 extra copies = 19.3% increase Sunday Express Circulated
650,248 that’s 100,000 extra copies = 15.19% increase
So does this mean you should plough your budget into The
People / Sunday Mirror? Not necessarily. Over the coming weeks you need to
assess the consistency of the circulation, the accuracy of the readership and
the content within these titles. It is then a case of planning your media
strategy in the national press in all the usual ways. If you don’t advertise in
the tabloids at this time of year you don’t need to jump on board these bigger
circulations now. It is still all about the Target Audience and what is right
for you.
It’s a funny old time in the world of national press and
we’re watching closely to see what’s on the cards for national press and what
further revelations will continue to shape the media as we know it…and that’s
without the likely launch of a new Sunday from News Int in due course or even
the new red top from Associated, called “Sunday”. What’s next?