Papers feel pinch in tough market

THE first six months of 2004 has been a difficult period for the Irish newspaper industry, especially for the daily broadsheets, according to official figures released yesterday.

Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures reveal a fall in broadsheet sales for the Irish Examiner, the Irish Independent and the Irish Times, compared with the same period in 2003 (the Irish Independent launched its daily tabloid February 10, 2004).

The overall Sunday newspaper market during the January to June period (excluding the Irish Daily Star Sunday, which was not on the market during the same period last year) also fell by 2.5%, or 21,762 copies, to 851,294 sales.

One of the most interesting aspects of the ABC results shows the two papers which have invested heavily in expensive free CD giveaways, Ireland on Sunday and the Sunday Independent, have both seen their circulation fall: IoS is down 16,097 (9.6%) and the Sunday Independent fell by 2,813 (1%).

Meanwhile, the Sunday Business Post has grown its circulation by 502 copies (1%) to 52,115 and the Sunday Tribune recorded an increase of 6,931.

But there is further bad news for Independent News & Media (INM) for their Sunday titles, with the Sunday World suffering a heavy loss of 10,285 (3.7%). Neither is there comfort for INM in the evening newspaper market, where the Evening Herald continues to lose sales, with a fall-off of a massive 7,233 (7.3%) each day between January and June, bringing it perilously close to the 90,000 mark - this rate of decline will not have been helped by the introduction of INM’s second daily tabloid.

The latest figures show the overall daily morning broadsheet market fell by 11%, before a notional adjustment is made for the introduction of the tabloid Irish Independent. The Irish Examiner is down by 4.4% (with its actively purchased newspapers increasing from 92% up to 94.5%), the Irish Independent is down by 21% (again, before a notional adjustment is made for the tabloid edition), and the Irish Times is down by 1.3%.

Excluding bulk sales (copies which may be bought by third parties at a discount and are often given away free of charge), the Irish Times circulation fell by 1.6% and the Irish Examiner circulation fell by 1.9%.

The Irish Independent’s tabloid now accounts for almost one in three copies sold (52,045 copies a day since its launch last February), more than compensating for the 33,428 drop in daily sales for the Independent’s broadsheet edition.

However, while the Independent’s combined total circulation has increased by 18,617 copies a day (11.5%) since the introduction of the tabloid, the dual edition strategy is hugely expensive, logistically and operationally difficult, and industry analysts believe it is unsustainable for much longer.

Furthermore, a total of 6,528 of the Independent’s broadsheet circulation is accounted for by copies sold outside the Republic which are of little value to Irish advertisers. Industry commentators are also questioning what will be the effect on the sale volumes to traditional broadsheet purchasers when, as seems certain, the Irish Independent converts to a single edition tabloid format.

In addition, as the tabloid becomes an ever-increasing share of total Independent sales, the advertising industry is gearing itself up for a price battle with INM’s Irish flagship.

Last night, a leading advertising industry source said: “In the month of June alone, the compact accounted for 66,453 sales, which is 37% of overall circulation. We see this trend increasing further and we will be therefore justifiably be demanding a discount from the Indo.”