A weekly newspaper first published in 1862 is to get a 45p price hike this week as part of a major relaunch.
The Oxford Times is raising its cover price from 85p to £1.30 tomorrow as it marks its 150th anniversary.
First published on 6 September 1862 as the Oxford Times and Midland Counties Advertiser, its first broadsheet front page told of riots in Naples and the latest battle in the American civil war alongside the appearance of zebras, leopard and panthers at St Giles’ Fair.
Now it is to get a wholesale makeoever aimed at modernising its appearance following a series reader focus groups this summer.
The changes will see the Weekend section become a pull out while new writers and columnists will aim to add “breadth and depth” to the paper’s coverage.
This week’s edition will also feature a 28-page supplement to mark the anniversary.
Writing in last week’s edition, group editor Simon O’Neill said: “Five monarchs, two world wars and countless governments have come and gone, but The Oxford Times is still here, in rude health and facing up to the challenges confronting the media in the 21st century.
“Despite what the doom mongers say, print is not dead and The Oxford Times will survive and flourish in the digital age. But it must change with the times and face up to some tough realities.
“That is why, from this week, you will notice some significant changes to your local newspaper as we celebrate our landmark anniversary.
“These follow a series of focus groups with readers which took place in June. Their views were fed into a major overhaul of the paper aimed at making it easier to read, providing more news and information and modernising the look, without sacrificing the identity that so many readers hold dear.”
“Finally, and no doubt most controversially, we are increasing the price of The Oxford Times to £1.30 with effect from this week.
“This is a recognition of the fact that many of the advertising sectors which effectively subsidised quality local journalism are receding and if we want to maintain our high standards and provide coverage which is high quality and comprehensive, then we must charge a fair price.”
The Times’ circulation fell by 12pc in the period January – June 2012 compared with the previous year.
According to the most recent ABC figures published last week, its current average weekly sale is 14,749.
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The 45p increase is brave to say the least. However, it is good to see proper investment in development of a printed newspaper and an honest and open explanation of why the price has to move.
Good luck to Simon and his team. Hope the good people of Oxford are as loyal and committed as they need to be.
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ask some JP bods what happened when they hiked prices and “relaunched” titles. Still recovering from the shock. But maybe this lot are doing it properly.
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The quality will really have to be there to retain readers following this scale of a mark up. But £1.30 for a quality weekly paper is still a bargain if it puts the meat in the sandwich. Rather this way than cutting staff and thus quality. Good luck to all in Oxford.
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“…if we want to maintain our high standards and provide coverage which is high quality and comprehensive, then we must charge a fair price.”
A laudable sentiment and great to hear that there are still editors out there who value high quality coverage. Not too sure about the word “fair” however. A 45p hike is frankly stupid and when I read that the revamp has been driven by the findings of focus groups, my heart sinks.
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Yeah that’s bound to work.
A massive price increase always halts a sales slump, everyone knows that.
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Hmmm! All sounds laudable but…
The same stable (Newsquest) runs a daily in the city..
The population demo is rising – younger age groups form a declining percentage of the population..
The weekly is more likely to appeal to the older demo..
£1.30 an issue is a lot to many of those..
Oxford has a higher percentage of higher income senior citizens..
It’s a big, big gamble..but could be the first step towards one big weekly and end of the daily..
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Ditto. Good luck with that!
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Remember, £1.30 is still substantially less than you’d pay for a small Americano at the local coffee shop.
If the new-look Oxford Times offers good editorial – a mix of news, information and entertainment – then it is worth every penny.
This is a courageous move by the management, and I believe it is the right way forward, so long as they get the formula right.
Readers will gulp initially, but once they realise they probably pay more to park their car for an hour, they will recognise that good local papers offer great value for penny.
For heaven’s sake, I paid two quid for a birthday card the other day. It contained four words. A good newspaper is the equivalent ‘wordwise’ to a fair-sized novel. Go for it, Oxford – and the best of luck.
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Editors – the word ‘penny’ at the end of the fourth par should be ‘money’, of course.
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out of it – if you talk to any senior (higher than editor) JP bodabout price rises, they’ll still tell you price rises make no difference and people are happy to pay more.
They’ve even got “market research” to back it up.
This tells you all you need to know about the people running the business. They’ve decided something so it’s fact, regardless of how wrong it is.
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Well, a brave move. But I fear the worst!
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Fingers and toes crossed that this works out for them.
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This is a very bold move,but could prove to be the end.Advertising revenue is achieved through sales and readership levels.This cover price hike will cause a massive loss of loyal readers and major advertisers will exit.
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A brave move? No, this is a stupid move. It won’t work. There’s far too much competition from other media to start introducing price rises on this scale. Oxford may be a relatively wealthy city but even the well-heeled will think twice about paying nearly £8-a-week for something that they can mostly get online for nothing. You might as well plunge a dagger into the Oxford Times’ back. Someone should let Morse and Lewis know.
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But Voice of Reason can’t.
I think they’ve missed the point that the Oxford Times is a WEEKLY paper.
And I’m sure the well-heeled will be quite prepared to pay £1.30 every Thursday for a paper with a decent news section, a weekend pull-out, massive property supplement and more often than not a glossy magazine.
Time will tell if this price hike will pay off but isn’t it refreshing to see a newspaper that’s actually investing. Good luck to all at Oxford.
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