A daily newspaper has relaunched its weekend magazine to coincide with a 30p increase in cover price on Saturdays.
The Western Mail has unveiled the “bigger and better” version of its award-winning Weekend magazine, which appears free in its Saturday edition.
At the same time, the Cardiff-based Mail’s Saturday cover price has also increased from £1.70 to £2.
However, readers are being invited to take advantage of an offer which allows them to get 40pc off. The paper’s Monday to Friday cover price remains at 95p.
The relaunched Weekend features new columnists including rugby referee Nigel Owens and academic Laura McAllister, as well as “even more fascinating features about Welsh life”.
The Mail says it has also increased the magazine’s focus on arts and culture, books,food and drink and Welsh language opinion pieces.
Editor Catrin Pascoe said: “The Western Mail’s Weekend Magazine will now be even bigger and better – offering a brilliant new must-read package from our talented writers and columnists to help ease you into the weekend.”
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The editors last paragraph must be the most cliche filled par to justify a papers falling circulation price rise ever, in cheesy DJ speak I give you….
“The Western Mail’s Weekend Magazine will now be ..”even bigger and better” – offering ..”a brilliant new must-read package” from our …”talented writers and columnists”… to help…” ease you into the weekend”
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From The Word Furnace
Tripe indeed but this has clearly been written by either an HR or company PR person as no credible editor would put their name to such a nauseating quote ( or would they?)
I would welcome an editor being honest and saying revenues are bad, costs are high,we are selling less copies and are struggling hence the price increase,instead we get this kind of tripe spewed out in attempt to tell us they’re doing the reader a favour.
Still, with ABC figures showing copy sales another 12% down, I guess they’ll try anything to justify putting the price up
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How much of the new and additional pagination is actually created in and relevant to Wales, and how many pages are the bland generic features pages produced in Liverpool for use across the entire TM group (featuring PA film reviews and interviews, 10 handbags of the week, some clothes on sale in a national chain store this week, travel features giving flight details from airports the other end of the country, etc)?
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Am I reading this correctly – £2 for the Western Mail’s Saturday edition?
Heavens, that is 30p more than The Times charges for a Saturday edition that contains two supplements and a colour supplement.
It really would have to be some brilliant new must-read package to tempt me at that price.
It is the economics of the madhouse.
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What’s a publishers stock first panic knee jerk reaction whenever copy sales losses are reported and ad revenues are further down?
Yes,increase the cover charge
Does anyone know when this desperate ‘pass the losses on to the end user’ tactic has ever worked?
No, me neither
When will publishers realise,or accept, that if they’re not selling the papers now at the current price, increasing the charge and expecting current buyers to pay more, or non buyers to become purchasers will not work?
Asking 95p for a daily and £2 for a Saturday is the recipe for further losses.
You can almost smell the desperation in the quotes within the piece
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