On Tuesday James Murdoch stated quite clearly to the Commons Culture Select Committee that there are “no immediate plans” to launch a new Sunday tabloid newspaper, so could Associated News be ready to fill the void?
More than ready if the rumour-mill is anything to go by. Norman Giller has been speaking to his moles, “that is, people who have willingly spoken to me – with not a single hacked voicemail message involved” he writes, and has reported that the group are working on a title simply called ‘Sunday’ designed to fill the £30million gap in the market left by the paper.
He continues “the new paper would be celebrity-led, with sport playing a huge role. The irreverent Kelvin MacKenzie, who recently jumped ships from The Sun to the Daily Mail, is apparently being lined up as a leading voice.”
With whispers of a test run this weekend we may not have to wait long to find out what Associated are up to. Let us know if you’ve heard anything.
Dave Woodrow
22/07/2011
While I cannot argue with the reports of a major increase of sales on other titles I was 12.5% down on copy sale which virtually equates to my N.O.W. sale. S Mirror increased by 100% but that was from 7 to 13 and People increased by 100% from 3 to 6 but they only compensated for the loss on the S.Times so the N.O.W. sale of 100 was not recovered.
I am sure much of the increase in sales quoted was from H.N.D. agents substituting in the hope of a sale (someone sent out 329 S.Mirrors in place of N.O.W. and someone sent out a M.O.S. and a People inplace of N.O.W. and took a hit (gamble) to try and maintain the sale.
All this support from retailers who are being hit with a drop in percentage terms from both Trinity Mirror regionals and Associated,s Daily Mail. When are publishers going to wake up to the fact that our costs are rising as well and in the minimum wage legislation and utility bills have no option.
I hope retailers take the opportunity to replace the N.O.W on their shelves with the titles that give the highest margin rather than the ones that are intent on driving us out of the newstrade
If Associated or News International come out with alternatives then to achieve penetration they must be competitive with the titles that give the highest margin.
If terms are to be cut then variable terms must be on the agenda to compensate those agents who do go the extra mile to get the product into the end consumers hands.
With a product that is price marked the quality must also be there to sustain demand so cutting back on editorial cannot be good practice.