AddThis SmartLayers

Circulation up 50pc for Northcliffe daily-turned-weekly

Regional publisher Northcliffe Media is claiming success in its decision to switch a daily newspaper to weekly publication after circulation went up by almost 50pc.

The Torquay Herald Express became the first of four Northcliffe-owned dailies to go weekly earlier this summer.

The last full set of ABC figures its average daily circulation for January to June 2011 was 20,372.

But ABC figures for August and September, released by Northcliffe, show a sales rise of 49.8pc to stand at 30,524, while readership of the paper has risen from 54,861 to 80,532.

Herald Express editor Andy Phelan said:  “I’m delighted that readers are enjoying the new improved Herald Express and the weekly edition means we are able to continue to provide the South Devon area with regional news as well as acting as a voice for the local community.

“We look forward to working with readers and advertisers alike to build on this success and ensure that the Herald Express remains an integral part of South Devon life.”

Northcliffe managing director Steve Auckland said:  “The move to weekly has been a fantastic success for The Herald Express. I’ve huge respect for what Andy Phelan and his team have created.

“These results prove what a great job they’ve done and show what an even more valuable product the paper has become to readers and advertisers.

“Our other daily to weekly changes in Exeter, Lincoln and Scunthorpe are showing similar trends so at this stage, it appears our intuition was well founded,” he added.

The 86-year-old Devon title relaunched as a weekly on 21 July.  Around half of the 32 editorial jobs were lost in the switch.

10 comments

You can follow all replies to this entry through the comments feed.
  • November 22, 2011 at 2:31 pm
    Permalink

    Slightly confused by the claims of ‘success’ attached to this story.

    The way I read the article suggests that the Torquay Herald Express had a daily circulation of 20,372. I’m guessing it published six days per week, which means a weekly circulation of somewhere in the region of 120,000 copies. Even if it only went to press five days per week that still means 100,000+.

    Therefore to claim circulation has increased – when in truth it has decreased by around 90,000 copies a week – is a cynical, disingenuous and altogether laughable attempt by Northcliffe to pass off a disastrous failure as a success.

    Again, on this logic the readership figures actually show a substantial decrease.

    Of course, if my reading of this story is inaccurate and someone wants to point out my error, I would happily reconsider my view.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 22, 2011 at 2:37 pm
    Permalink

    Geoffrey has it spot on. The Northcliffe spin machine continues to find positivity where there simply is none.

    Rising circulation at newly-formed weeklies is the new “overnight printing gives us longer on the shelves.”

    You don’t even believe it yourselves so stop trotting it out.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 22, 2011 at 3:02 pm
    Permalink

    IT’S a shame that the company has put forward this poppycock about circulation increasing because anyone in the business (as per the comments above) knows this is laughable.
    All the more unfortunate as there is a success story here – the paper has put on 5,000 from its original weekly circulation and that’s commendable. They should have stuck with that instead of claiming massive phantom increases.
    But as anyone in the weekly business knows, this year’s lovely increase in next year’s horrid minus…

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 22, 2011 at 3:30 pm
    Permalink

    Geoffrey and Traffic Chaos are right to be sceptical. It would also be good to have it confirmed from Northcliffe that no extra marketing and circulation resources were employed during the launch period beyond which the daily ‘enjoyed’.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 22, 2011 at 3:55 pm
    Permalink

    The only flaw in Geoffrey’s argument is that if the same people bought the paper each day (which at least some must have done).

    Overall newspaper sales are down of course, but readership is potentially up.

    Ah the fun of statistics ….

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 22, 2011 at 5:07 pm
    Permalink

    Long-gone is right. It is actually an increase in circulation and if its editor can hold the figure until this time next year, he deserves an award. For all those daily-turned-weeklies, that will be how the success is measured, not circulation bonanzas at the moment but if you can hold the ground you stand on. That means breaking good stories in paper and on the front, making it local and relevant, stop recycling nonsense from the internet or emails, campaigning and be worth listening to. If an editor can do those things in this market, having gone through the stress of turning a loved daily paper into a weekly, and not lose sales after a year you know there is hope. Good luck to you all.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 22, 2011 at 5:49 pm
    Permalink

    ‘Long-gone’ and Paul Warren have the right interpretation – you can’t just count daily readers x6 because of duplication of the same people. That said, I can understand the earlier commenters’ annoyance at the spin. Essentially, Torquay sounds like a successful conversion with what must be a chunk of new purchasers and readers. This follows Bath’s success – down to around 12k daily four years ago, still recording 17,316 as a weekly today. But – there’s always a but – before every small daily jumps at it, my advice is to wait for what will shortly be very detailed, wider figures from other conversions. And if the senior sources I spoke to are correct, the picture is not all as rosy. Exeter’s sales so far as a weekly are up – but not as dramatically as Torquay’s. And Lincoln’s sales as a weekly are even less so… comparatively quite slight atm. It doesn’t mean their conversions are not as good, but it does mean there are other factors at play: marketplace; existence of other weeklies; other media’s strength (eg, BBC local); strength of editorial resource retained; the economy, etc. What I’m saying is that while going weekly is an option, it’s one that has to be studied very carefully with a paper’s own particular circumstances and geography in mind. Watch Htfp for Exeter and Lincoln sales in a few months time for a further analysis of this. (Re. Scunthorpe, by the way, I’ve heard nothing from sources there – OK, I admit, I have no sources in Scunthorpe! Any offers confidentially received.)

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 23, 2011 at 8:04 am
    Permalink

    Mark Twain:

    There are lies, damned lies and then there are statistics.

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 23, 2011 at 12:22 pm
    Permalink

    As others have already pointed out there are ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’.

    It mentions in the final para of this story…

    http://htfpnew.adaptive.co.uk/2011/news/exeter-daily-becomes-latest-northcliffe-title-to-go-weekly/

    … that the first week’s sales of the [weekly] Herald Express were ‘more than double it’s most-recent ABC figure’, ie in excess of 40,744 copies.

    It’s now averaging just 30,000 copies so has, if you like, lost more than 25 per cent of its circulation in just three months!

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)
  • November 24, 2011 at 4:39 pm
    Permalink

    Spot on Geoffrey – as I mentioned on another media site 30,000 circulated as opposed to 20,000 averaged over 6 days – or 120,000 over a week.
    You can’t compare daily circulation to weekly circulation – they’re two different beasts.
    Readership probably has gone up. So few people are actually buying it that each edition has, second, third, fourth and fifth-hand readers as the paper is bought once and passed around friends and family – at least that’s what the locals who buy it tell me.
    More importantly these are the same readers who don’t give a hoot about circulation figures but are concerned about content and quality.
    Hmmm,,,Geoffrey – -the name has a familiar ring – -you’re not my favourite bookish gloomy uncle perchance?

    Report this comment

    Like this comment(0)