Saturday sections in regional daily papers are boosting sales when publishers achieve the right mix of “national quality and local content”.

That is the upbeat message from the Newspaper Society’s market research manager.

Mike Jeanes gave a presentation on newspaper sections at the recent NS Newspaper Sales and Promotions Conference, where he praised the Eastern Daily Press, the Southern Daily Echo and the Western Daily Press, for their lifestyle Saturday magazines.

He pointed out that “Weekend”, the Southern Daily Echo Saturday magazine masterminded by editor Ian Murray, includes regular local features “backed by the type of glamorous national content you’d expect to see in the Daily Mail”.

The Echo’s Saturday sale is 10% up on the previous year. The newspaper’s Saturday strategy also includes a bumper weekend recruitment section which repeats Thursday’s job advertisements.

The Eastern Daily Press publishes 10 sections throughout the week culminating in a 32-page motors pull-out and a “review”-style magazine on a Saturday.

Mr Jeanes said: “This magazine gives the reader the quality of editorial, environment and reproduction found in the nationals, but with a distinct local feel, and it’s this local angle that gives the EDP its competitive edge. As with some of its national counterparts, the Eastern Daily Press is able to charge a differential cover price of 50p on a Saturday (compared to the average cover price of 42p Monday – Friday) and sales are still about 12% higher than average weekday performance.”

Saturday sales of the Western Daily Press are also up 2.4% on last year compared to an average Monday to Friday sale down 6.5%.

Traditionally, Mr Jeanes said, regional evenings have struggled to sell their papers on a Saturday because of the change in lifestyle patterns at weekends, when many people want access to news and entertainment earlier in the day and have less time for reading in the evening.

He added: “There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. The recently re-launched Leicester Mercury is one of the best examples, where the Saturday paper carries a 56-page property section and remains the second best selling day behind jobs on a Thursday.”

Many regional publishers already print earlier on a Saturday, said Mr Jeanes, but research has show that four out of 10 morning readers – national or regional – have already read their paper by 9.30am.

He said: “With this in mind, adding value to the Saturday regional evening package in the form of sections is unlikely to have a major effect on sales unless the paper is available at the same time as its national competitors.”

To read Mr Jeanes’ speech in full click here

To visit the Newspaper Society website click here

Do you have a story for us?
Ring the HoldTheFrontPage newsdesk on
01332 291111 x6022, or e-mail us now