A regional daily is taking its weekly business magazine monthly because of the “increasingly digital world that we find ourselves in.”

The Manchester Evening News has announced the publication frequency switch for its Greater Manchester Business Week title.

The magazine will also change its name to Manchester Evening News Business, and the MEN says the revamped monthly effort will be a “larger and glossier” 48-page high-end product complete with a fresh redesign.

Since launching the weekly magazine in 2010, more than 12,500 copies have been delivered each week to the region’s top business figures.

Paul O’Halloran, MEN commercial managing director, said: “After eight very successful years of publishing Greater Manchester Business Week we have undertaken a review of our print and online business products.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the appetite for instant business news is best served on a daily rather than weekly basis, through our email business bulletin which is growing exponentially in audience and content.

“Our plan is to expand our online offering and publish a larger monthly business magazine which contains more original insight, business opinion and tackles the larger topical issues.”

Business editor Shelina Begum said: “The magazine has been a key part of the region’s business community for eight years and I am immensely proud of building it into one of the key publications within the group.

“We want to remain relevant to our readership and that means making some exciting changes so we can focus on exclusive news and features and continue to drive collaboration between editorial and commercial.

“This transformation is a natural step in the evolution of the magazine and will create a stronger platform reaching out to all our readers.”

A piece announcing the change adds: “In the increasingly digital world that we find ourselves in, our readers, more than ever, are placing value in our online coverage, which is growing in reach.

“Pleasingly, this content is being read and shared across social media platforms as our engagement levels continue to soar.

“Therefore, to complement this online focus, we have decided to relaunch our print product in a new monthly format – starting from next week.”