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Cover price rise accompanies pagination boost for weeklies

RipleyandHeanorNewsA trio of local weeklies in Derbyshire have doubled their pagination as part of a bit to provide more ‘county-wide’ news.

The Belper News, Ilkeston Advertiser and Ripley and Heanor News all moved from around 50 pages to more than 100 in a mini-relaunch last week that also saw their publication day move from Thursday to Wednesday.

The change is being accompanied by a significant price hike, with the three titles now priced £1.15. Previously their cover prices ranged between 75p and 80p.

Much of the new content will come from other Johnston Press-owned weeklies in the county, but editor Phil Bramley said the three newspapers would remain as standalone titles.

Said Phil: “We’re more committed than ever to these publications and their communities. What we have done this week is increase the paginations and content for all of three of these papers, moving from around 50 pages each to over 100.

“All the papers published this week under their own mastheads, with the same amount of localised Belper, Ilkeston and Ripley news, community round-up, letters, sports and localised advertising.

“However, in addition we have increased the news sections to include more countywide stories, expanded the leisure and sports sections and stronger property and motors content.

“We’re fully committed to these papers and communities and will continue to innovate and find creative new solutions to reflect the changing needs of our market.”

A piece published on the Belper News’ newly-relaunched website last week also promises 12 pages of entertainment, lifestyle and leisure along with the expanded news coverage.

The three titles along with other JP Derbyshire weeklies are all produced by a single team of journalists based at the Derbyshire Times office in Chesterfield.

6 comments

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  • December 5, 2016 at 6:02 pm
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    I think I got this right. Ask people to pay more for more news that is not likely to be of much interest to them. Good luck.

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  • December 6, 2016 at 11:46 am
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    With copy sales falling I’m sure,given the choice,what few readers remain would much rather pay less for what they have than in an effort to retain them as opposed to being asked to pay more for what they probably don’t want anyway.

    Likewise new readers might be tempted by a reduced cover charge to try the publication but like everything,it’s only as good as it’s copy content and if that’s not deemed to be worth paying for an increased cover charge will only drive current buyers away.
    In austere times it’s suicide to hike a cover price tomahe up for copy sale losses no matter how it’s dressed up as being of more value

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  • December 6, 2016 at 4:59 pm
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    County-wide stories affecting all parts of the county? Or just local news from other areas of the county. I’m guessing the latter.

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  • December 7, 2016 at 9:40 am
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    £1.15p for a so-called local paper stuffed with irrelevant news from outside the locality. Most of this will got straight into the re-cycling bin. Johnston Press haven’t got a clue. I pity the poor editor having the justify this.

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  • December 7, 2016 at 10:20 pm
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    Do these three newspapers include the inspirational JP Newsroom of the Future which has seen the circulations of so many publications zoom into orbit, which attracts extra advertising revenue by the £millions, which motivates the eager journalists who are dedicated to their caring employers? JP will have to at least quadruple the joint print run of the three papers to satisfy the public demand for this magnificent product!

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