A weekly newspaper has expanded its sport coverage by moving it from the back of the book to a new pullout section.
The Rotherham Advertiser’s revamp sees its sport section appear in a 24-page pullout each week, with just the back page of the paper itself dedicated to the subject.
Entertainment, community news, motors and classified have been moved further back to make way for the new supplement, which has been launched to coincide with the start of football club Rotherham United’s new season.
The Advertiser says the move brought in £1,500 in its first week, which will equate to more than £75,000 extra revenue over the course of the year if it continues.
Editor Andrew Mosley said: “We’ve introduced significant changes to the way we cover sport, reimagining it as a free 24-page pull-out rather than a traditional back-of-the-paper offering.
“It means we’ll have more news, pictures and opinion than ever before, as well as exclusive competitions and an increased facility for fans to give us their views, and we’ve dispensed with the traditional match report and replaced it with a picture montage of the game.
“Importantly, as well as a fans’ column, we’ve also secured a weekly column from manager Paul Warne and a player page, on which different squad members will give us their views throughout the season, starting with club captain Lee Frecklington.
“We’ve also added our online matchday experience to our coverage, which will feature pictures and views, as well as live updates and a round-up after the final whistle.”
Andrew said the guaranteed 24 pages each week also means there will be room for more local sport including cricket, rugby, athletics, hockey, tennis, table tennis, golf and angling.
He added: “As well as improving coverage, we’d looked at the sports section and realised that, in common with many other papers, there was a lack of advertising there.
“By moving it to a pull-out we brought in £1,500 in the first week, and if we can keep that up that’s more than £75,000 extra revenue over a year.”
The Advertiser has also launched a matchday live blog for United games, beginning a few hours before kick-off and ending a couple of hours after.
The paper produced a 28-page sports special prior to the beginning of the season last week, when United were away at Fleetwood.
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A good move, but . . . “We’ve dispensed with the traditional match report and replaced it with a picture montage of the game “. Both together, great. But no unbiased report of the matches; and only pics – probably taken on readers’ phones??!!!
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The match report has gone because it’s six days old by the time we come out, so we just put that online and all pictures are taken by one of our three full-time staff photographers.
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The novelty will probably wear off after the first few editions – will have to be priced attractively – signing advertisers up for the season will be the key.
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