The Newspaper Society is claiming that deeper penetration of regional newspaper markets is offsetting some of the circulation drop at daily and weekly publications across the country.

Every local daily paper in Britain saw its circulation fall in the second half of last year, with some losing up to 9.8 per cent of their sale.

Weeklies did better on the period July to December 2005, with the Worksop Guardian, up 7.9 per cent period on period and 17.4 per cent year on year, and the Beccles and Bungay Journal, up 4.6 per cent in the second half of last year and 9.1 per cent year on year, among the best performers.

But the Society, which represents the interest of the local newspaper industry, says websites, niche magazines and broadcast platforms, ‘Lite’ editions for commuters, podcasts, mobile phones and e-editions are all allowing people to access news and entertainment on the move, and are proving increasingly popular for regional press consumers.

In addition, the past year has seen the launch of 13 new regional press titles, with more on the way. As well as 1,300 regional and local, daily and weekly titles read by 40m adults every week, the regional press now has over 400 stand-alone magazines and niche publications, over 500 websites, at least 21 radio stations and two television stations.

The latest release of regional newspaper ABC/VFD figures (July-Dec 2005) shows the decline of many core titles.

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The Society says it is down to readers increasingly getting their local news and information through new regional press print and online products and that audience fragmentation “is a reality” for all mainstream media, including commercial TV, radio, magazines and newspapers.

Robert Hardie, content manager at Northcliffe Electronic Publishing, said the advances were creating a new audience, rather than taking away print readership.

He said: “Whilst it would be stupid to suggest that no-one has ever stopped buying a newspaper because they prefer to access their information digitally, research clearly shows such migrators are a small minority of the new audience electronic publishing is delivering.

“Readers who were previously disenfranchised for geographical or logistical reasons from buying their local paper can now access it online, and both the age and social demographics are different for the online audience than they are for the traditional newspaper-buying one.”

Les Middleton, associate director of Mediacom Accent, said: “One of the key areas where the regional press marketplace can grow as an audience is the younger market. Introducing the morning Lites as in Manchester and Brighton (and the expansion of the Metro into Cardiff and Bristol) is a good and brave decision and should be applauded. I truly believe there is an audience out there for these products.”

Georgina Harvey, managing director of Trinity Mirror’s regional titles, said: “Trinity Mirror is rapidly becoming a multi-platform publisher. Alongside our newspaper titles we now operate an extensive portfolio of complementary digital brands. Our aim here is to build on the strengths of our print titles, deepening our presence in core markets and extending our reach.”

Danny Cammiade, chief operating officer of Johnston Press, said: “Our local newspapers alone continue to provide advertisers with high levels of market penetration and excellent response. Their reach has been further extended with the launch of numerous specialist and niche print publications. With the rapid growth of our digital platforms, market research confirms that we can now offer advertisers a further substantial increase in total audience coverage.”

Newspaper Society communications director Lynne Anderson said: “Measuring circulation alone clearly no longer gives an accurate picture of a regional centre’s reach. The challenge is to develop a national method of multi-media audience measurement which provides more meaningful figures for advertisers and agencies. We are working closely with publishers, their customers, ABC and JICREG to find the right solution.”