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ABCs: Weekly posts 41pc sales rise after rival’s online-only move

Reading Chronicle tow coveredA weekly newspaper whose main rival went online-only at the end of 2014 has posted the biggest sales rise for paid-for weekly titles in the latest ABC figures.

Today’s six-monthly ABC figures for the period July to December 2015 showed all but six UK paid-for weeklies lost sales in the second half of last year compared to the same period in 2014.

Among the half-dozen who bucked the overall trend were the Reading Chronicle, whose sales were up 41pc year-on-year.

Its main rival, the Trinity Mirror-owned Reading Post, ceased print publication at the end of 2014 to go online-only as getreading.co.uk.

The Chronicle’s sales boost follows a year of turmoil in which it changed hands and also had three different editors.

Formerly part of the Berkshire Media Group, the paper was bought by Newsquest in May 2015 as part of its purchase of BMG’s parent company Romanes Media Group.

Its then editor Lesley Potter then left the business to be replaced by Tim Cole, who was in turn succeeded by Dave King.

Sister title the Bracknell News also posted a double-digit sales increase, up 27.1pc on the same period in 2014.

The full figures for UK paid-for weeklies can be seen below.

Title Total Y-on-Y pc
Reading Chronicle 7,818 41.4
Uttoxeter Advertiser 3,069 36.8
Bracknell News 3,565 27.1
Falmouth & Helston Packet 5,659 22.9
Surrey Advertiser 19,151 5
Maldon & Burnham Standard 5,988 0
Sidmouth Herald 5,685 -0.8
Arran Banner 2,897 -2.2
Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard 9,014 -2.7
Goole Times (Incorporating Selby Times) 14,582 -3.1
Annandale Herald and Moffat News 3,312 -3.4
Clacton Gazette 11,782 -3.6
Halstead Gazette 3,692 -3.6
County Derry Post 4,198 -4
Wishaw Press 5,014 -4
Herne Bay Gazette 1,957 -4.1
Harwich & Manningtree Standard 5,162 -4.2
Surrey Mirror 8,975 -4.2
Knutsford Guardian 3,603 -4.3
Strathearn Herald 1,454 -4.4
Stirling Observer (Fri) 2,393 -4.5
Annandale Observer 4,798 -4.8
Faversham News 2,045 -4.8
Westmorland Gazette 20,047 -5
Braintree & Witham Times 8,351 -5.2
Sunday Life 40,057 -5.2
Wharfedale & Aireborough Observer 2,856 -5.3
Yorkshire – Gazette & Herald 8,097 -5.4
Weston, Worle & Somerset Mercury 12,587 -5.5
Campbeltown Courier & Argyllshire Advertiser 5,537 -5.6
Hexham Courant 11,855 -5.6
Impartial Reporter 11,449 -5.6
Isle of Wight County Press 26,817 -5.6
Leek Post & Times 9,210 -5.6
The Orcadian 7,735 -5.7
Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 13,826 -5.9
John O’Groat Journal 5,738 -5.9
Stirling Observer (Wed) 5,492 -5.9
Bicester Advertiser 3,091 -6
Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News 2,277 -6.1
South Wales Guardian 4,532 -6.1
Barnsley Chronicle 25,997 -6.2
Caithness Courier 4,363 -6.2
East Lothian Courier 10,265 -6.3
Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press 6,005 -6.3
Strathspey & Badenoch Herald 3,547 -6.3
Salisbury Journal 15,144 -6.4
Stroud News & Journal 8,048 -6.4
Guardian (Northwich, Winsford & Middlewich) 9,876 -6.5
Hampshire Chronicle 8,670 -6.6
Fermanagh Herald 10,829 -6.7
Sittingbourne News Extra 4,633 -6.7
Ayrshire Post 15,839 -6.9
Hereford Times 21,425 -6.9
New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times 16,361 -6.9
Cumberland News 19,869 -7
The Mid Devon Gazette 7,662 -7
Craven Herald & Pioneer 10,053 -7.1
Dumfries & Galloway Standard (Fri) 10,152 -7.1
Malvern Gazette 9,788 -7.1
Prestwich and Whitefield Guide 1,499 -7.1
The Galloway News 5,637 -7.1
The Watford Observer 11,346 -7.1
East Kent Mercury 8,688 -7.2
Gravesend & Dartford Messenger 4,274 -7.2
Scunthorpe Telegraph 16,117 -7.2
Largs & Millport Weekly News 3,739 -7.3
Retford Times 6,135 -7.3
Dumfries & Galloway Standard (Wed) 5,906 -7.4
Essex County Standard 11,659 -7.4
Irvine Times 2,323 -7.4
Northern Times 3,157 -7.4
Darlington & Stockton Times 17,345 -7.5
Exmouth Journal 6,547 -7.5
Rutherglen Reformer 2,340 -7.5
Inverness Courier (Tue) 6,952 -7.6
Rotherham & South Yorkshire Advertiser 20,934 -7.6
Llanelli Star 9,172 -7.8
Newbury Weekly News 13,810 -7.8
Ilkley Gazette 3,515 -7.9
Inverness Courier (Fri) 9,780 -8
Oban Times 11,608 -8
Blairgowrie Advertiser 1,460 -8.1
Brentwood Gazette 10,469 -8.1
Bridport News 6,491 -8.1
Tamworth Herald 14,057 -8.1
Tivy-Side Advertiser 5,250 -8.1
Andover Advertiser 8,311 -8.2
Gloucestershire Gazette 8,931 -8.2
Ludlow Advertiser 3,288 -8.2
Wilts & Glos Standard 7,439 -8.3
Barry & District News 3,600 -8.4
Bury Times 10,426 -8.4
Sheerness Times Guardian 5,478 -8.4
Chard & Ilminster News 4,129 -8.5
Border Telegraph 3,067 -8.6
Gazette & Herald 13,396 -8.8
Sevenoaks Chronicle 7,533 -8.8
The Oxford Times 9,324 -8.8
Rossendale Free Press 7,206 -8.9
Bridgnorth Journal 5,543 -9
Isle of Thanet Gazette 9,088 -9
North Devon Journal 18,534 -9
Helensburgh Advertiser 4,056 -9.1
Mid Somerset Gazette 6,644 -9.1
West Highland Free Press 6,496 -9.2
Ayr Advertiser 2,589 -9.3
Bucks Free Press 12,982 -9.3
Free Press Monmouthshire & Pontypool 4,061 -9.3
Mid Somerset Journal 6,580 -9.3
Dunfermline Press & West of Fife Advertiser 11,230 -9.4
Hinckley Times 9,244 -9.4
Keighley News 8,169 -9.4
Accrington Observer 6,873 -9.5
Penarth Times 3,740 -9.5
Kent Messenger 26,597 -9.6
The Herald 7,509 -9.6
West Cumberland Times & Star 11,036 -9.6
Cornishman 11,745 -9.7
Peeblesshire News 3,595 -9.7
Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser 5,846 -9.9
Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald 7,519 -9.9
Derry News – Monday 4,388 -9.9
Kent and Sussex Courier 18,693 -9.9
Wiltshire Times 8,605 -9.9
Bridgwater Mercury 8,031 -10
Cumnock Chronicle 4,446 -10
Kilmarnock Standard (Ayrshire Weekly News and Irvine Valley News) 9,627 -10
Carmarthen Journal 11,225 -10.1
Highland News 4,919 -10.1
Whitehaven News 9,411 -10.1
Torquay – Herald Express 19,340 -10.2
Epping Forest Guardian 4,518 -10.3
Warrington Guardian 15,342 -10.3
Perthshire Advertiser (Fri) 7,626 -10.5
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser 6,828 -10.6
Lennox Herald 6,382 -10.6
Essex Chronicle 18,918 -10.7
Ross-shire Journal 5,372 -10.8
Somerset Guardian 4,997 -10.8
Western Telegraph 12,315 -10.8
South Shropshire Journal 5,846 -10.9
Central Fife Times & Advertiser 3,773 -11
Frome Standard 4,395 -11
Macclesfield Express 7,839 -11
Maidenhead Advertiser 14,506 -11
Western Gazette 17,533 -11.1
Romsey Advertiser 5,484 -11.2
Stockport Express 7,420 -11.2
Witney Gazette 5,280 -11.2
Lochaber News 2,101 -11.3
Forres Gazette 2,290 -11.5
Cornish Guardian 16,963 -11.6
Kentish Express 9,883 -11.6
Perthshire Advertiser (Tue) 3,632 -11.6
Banffshire Journal 3,229 -11.7
Derry News – Thursday 4,165 -11.7
Aldershot News & Mail 6,604 -12
North Star 2,627 -12
Rochdale Observer (Sat) 10,300 -12
Basingstoke Gazette 9,018 -12.2
Hamilton Advertiser 11,010 -12.3
Newport Advertiser 5,280 -12.3
Kentish Gazette 7,991 -12.6
Folkestone & Hythe Express 1,673 -12.8
Slough Eton & Windsor Observer 4,558 -12.9
Crewe Chronicle 8,975 -13.2
Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser 8,189 -13.3
Medway Messenger (Monday) 4,886 -13.4
Northern Scot 10,393 -13.4
Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 2,101 -13.5
The West Lothian Courier 7,367 -13.5
Herts & Essex Observer 8,254 -13.7
Middleton & North Manchester Guardian 3,149 -13.8
West Briton 21,414 -13.9
Bath Chronicle 11,273 -14.2
Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette 3,677 -14.3
Milford & West Wales Mercury 1,940 -14.4
Runcorn & Widnes Weekly News 6,720 -14.4
Loughborough Echo 10,988 -14.5
Somerset County Gazette 13,983 -14.7
Waltham Forest Guardian 3,678 -14.8
Irvine Herald and Kilwinning Chronicle 4,339 -14.9
East Kilbride News 5,748 -15
Lincolnshire Echo 15,855 -15.1
Birmingham Post 6,677 -16
Bucks Advertiser & Examiner 6,084 -16
Rochdale Observer (Wed) 5,938 -16
North Wales Weekly News 7,815 -18
Heywood Advertiser 2,501 -18.5
Chester Chronicle 9,788 -18.9
Pontypridd & Llantrisant Observer 2,836 -19.2
Cynon Valley Leader 2,619 -19.4
Caernarfon & Denbigh Herald 6,456 -19.5
Rhondda Leader 3,485 -19.7
Clydebank Post 4,630 -19.8
Gwent Gazette 2,311 -19.8
Scotland on Sunday 22,060 -19.9
Glamorgan Gazette 7,267 -20.1
Southport Visiter 5,383 -20.8
Ormskirk Advertiser 3,091 -20.9
Holyhead and Bangor Mail 5,081 -21.1
Merthyr Express 5,159 -22
Sunday Herald 25,006 -22.4
Ellesmere Port Pioneer 1,611 -28.2
Croydon Advertiser 7,851 -74.1

Paid-for weekly titles for which no year-on-year comparison was reported include the following:

Title Total Y-on-Y pc
Ashbourne News Telegraph 4,472
Barking & Dagenham Post 5,157
Beccles & Bungay Journal 4,381
Black Country Bugle 8,724
Boston Target 8,456
Dereham & Fakenham Times 4,999
Dover Express 5,388
East Grinstead Courier 4,167
East Lindsey Target 4,855
Exeter Express & Echo (Mon) 5,803
Exeter Express & Echo (Thu) 13,270
Grantham Target 2,150
Great Yarmouth Mercury 12,114
Hackney Gazette 2,148
Ham & High Broadway 719
Hertfordshire Mercury 12,746
Ilford Recorder 4,099
Liverpool Sunday Echo 19,363
Lowestoft Journal 10,898
Newcastle Sunday Sun 27,030
North Norfolk News 5,416
Romford Recorder 10,769
Sleaford Target 3,516
Staffordshire Newsletter 9,626
Sunday Mercury 19,568
The Banffshire Advertiser 2,476
The Banffshire Herald 1,540
The Huntly Express 2,113
Wales on Sunday 14,314
Welwyn Hatfield Times 7,987

12 comments

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  • February 24, 2016 at 2:51 pm
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    I believe figures for bear-baiting venues looked like these around 1835.

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  • February 24, 2016 at 5:42 pm
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    The big question obviously is …how far can these figures continue to slide before there are closures? Surely all these papers will eventually have a slowing down fall rate till they get to a barmy level and shut-downs. In an average large town with surrounding villages these figures already show that only a small percent of the population buy their local. The end is nearly nigh….and we’re all doomed I tell you. …

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  • February 25, 2016 at 7:36 am
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    In an age of huge readership losses and stong competitor activity,costs spiraling out of control and with companies still carrying large sales teams to return alarmingly low revenues i wonder just how long some of these ailing weekly titles can be allowed to continue haemoraging money and readers on a daily and weekly basis?
    With 40 years experience in local media and as a business consultant,the only logical options for some of these weeklies,that I can see are;
    1) To sell more commercial revenue
    easier said than done as many businesses are using strong competitor publications to good effect which is partly why the figures are so bad,and weak copy sales are not conducive to attracting or keeping advertisers

    2) To go free
    maybe coupling up with another sister title in the stable to build copy numbers and save costs

    3) Publish on line only

    4) Close

    As harsh as that may seem there are no other alternatives

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  • February 25, 2016 at 8:40 am
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    Reeve: look at the FLIC story on HTFP earlier this week for your option 3 – an award-winning and highly praised local news website scuttled after less than seven months because it couldn’t pay for itself. Options 3 and 4 thus seem identical to me. Otherwise, this is all depressingly accurate.

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  • February 25, 2016 at 9:32 am
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    Surrey Advertiser once again showing a rise after Trinity merged all the surrey papers and shuts one or two a year, hence the Ad’s yearly good figures.

    Woking, Egham, Herald all gone

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  • February 25, 2016 at 10:54 am
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    Let’s be honest, most of these papers just aren’t worth saving… In fact most weren’t worth saving even before management took an axe to them. Too many have been run by clueless, unimaginative editors who have relied on a news staple template from the 1930s.

    More often than not the copy is cliched, pun-filled, moribund rubbish and so exaggerated that it would make a Daily Star journalist blush. The photos, even before they lost them all, were little more than line ups of tedious civic dignitaries or 100s of pictures of children (on the basis that an auntie might pick up TWO copies).

    I’m not absolving the big firms, they have destroyed an industry but they’ve been ably abetted by editorial staff along the way.

    Bring on the day these papers die and let entrepreneurial new publishers take the lead on a new generation of local news.

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  • February 25, 2016 at 11:39 am
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    So to put on sales you need your main competitor to vanish and, even after a 41 per cent rise, you will still only sell a measly 7,818 copies in a place the size of Reading. I despair of local newspapers now. I really do.

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  • February 25, 2016 at 12:30 pm
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    The only really valid option @reeve is 4
    There’s no way any business can run with high overheads against falling product sales, and as @ dick points out FLIC is a case in point as that couldn’t sustain enough revenue to keep going and that was without the burden of dragging tired unwanted weekly newspapers around that have lost their appeal and markets yet still carry high costs week by week, period by period.

    Many have been propped up for far too long and surely cannot justify running at a loss any longer, the shareholders can only take so much hype, promises of good times around the corner and time buying for so long before they lose patience and demand action.
    I believe if an independent business consultant took a look at the finances involved and costs against revenue (P&L) they would have only one recommendation

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  • February 25, 2016 at 5:49 pm
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    JP have got the right idea. Don’t subscribe to ABC!

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  • February 26, 2016 at 11:53 am
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    Sorry but… Mr Reeve, (comment above), needs to read and check his copy for errors (spelling etc) before sending stuff into here. Forty years in media and now a business consultant should produce no errors…

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  • February 26, 2016 at 4:07 pm
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    Pedantic comment from CpnStarlight @reeve maybe you’ve hit one of his nerves and it’s all a bit too close to home?

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  • March 6, 2016 at 12:56 am
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    Funny how the Express & Error left their figures out. Although seeing as they are doing very, very badly it’s not surprising at all.

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