8099_38-45_290110.qxd:38-45 03/03/2010 17:44 Page 46
>
MEDIAWATCH
Persuading a whole new generation of marketers and media especially in attracting new and younger readers to The Irish
planners about the merits of press in a digital media age is a real Times. The Monday to Friday market is tighter due to a combina-
challenge for the industry though. Oliver Keenaghan, general man- tion of the economic downturn and the decline in people in
ager of News International’s Irish operation, agrees that publishers employment.”
and the newspaper industry at large need to change the conver- The ABC figures seem to bear out this view as sales of Sundays
sation around the medium with marketing decision-makers. have held up slightly better, with total sales of Irish and UK papers
“In the past we talked about what level of reach we could down by 4pc (or 48,000 copies.) There were a few exceptions
achieve; we now need to evaluate the level of relevancy it has – however – The Sunday Times’ circulation of 112,982 was up by
how much resonance it has with an individual rather than a ran- almost 3pc year on year, while the Sunday Independent,
domly scattered message,” he points out. “We talked about an although losing just over 2,000 copies (1pc), sold an average of
impact or a contact; we now need to talk about the connection. It’s 268,000 in the July–December period.
the difference between someone being aware and someone The good news for most Irish publishers is that readership, the
responding positively. We have to move from talking about expo- currency for most advertisers, has not fallen in line with sales.
sures to experiences – about how much time we are spending with But as Farrell points out there are some logical recessionary-
them and how much valuable information we are giving them.” based behaviours at play here. “We know from our own research
that in certain households we have moved from having three
papers sold directly to three readers, to now having one or two
Changes in readership
sales for the same three readers, due primarily to the impact of
The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures for the second half
the downturn. Our readership is now at the highest it’s ever been
of 2009 showed daily sales had fallen by 6pc or almost 50,000
in our 150 year history as this trend continues to bring more
fewer copies per day than last year. The cancellation of corporate
readers to the paper.”
subscriptions to some quality dailies affected their numbers, while
The latest JNRS data on reading levels for dailies and Sundays
the general rise in unemployment, especially in the construction
(see charts overleaf) show that broadsheet newspapers generally
sector, also removed buyers from the daily tabloid market.
performed better than tabloids over the last 12 months. This is not
Publishers seem to be experiencing different sales dynamics at
unlike the radio market where ‘news’ stations have grown at the
play between Monday and Friday versus weekends. According to
expense of many of the music-driven stations.
Paul Farrell, commercial director of The Irish Times: “We have
Many within the industry are also hopeful that they will contin-
seen consistent sales growth since the launch of our Weekend
ue to recruit readers and buyers within the young adult category
edition over 18 months ago, which has been very encouraging
and that the internet won’t have it all its own way. “Perhaps
40 Marketing Age Volume 4 Issue 1 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92