In the same week that Johnston Press said it will be treating newly-acquired i as a digital-first product, Trinity Mirror has outlined a very different strategy for The New Day – and said that the newly-launched newspaper will not have a website.
Speaking at the Digital Media Strategies conference on Wednesday, Trinity chief Simon Fox said that The New Day will take on a similar approach to brands and instead have a “very active” social push.
“There is a very carefully thought through digital strategy and that is not to have a website,” Fox said.
“What we do have is a very active Facebook community. This is not for everyone, this is for a certain group of people who we would like to engage with on Facebook in the way that a brand might engage with its users.
“We’re trying to have a dialogue with readers in a way that a website with commenting facilities does.”
This week Trinity announced that it would be holding the cover price of The New Day at 25p, amid speculation of a slowdown in sales.
But when asked whether sales are not going as well as hoped, Fox said, “No, I wouldn’t say that…I’m not going to comment on day-to-day circulation figures – there’s been enough speculation.”
While no official circulation figures have yet been released, it is understood that on its first day of launch, when handed out for free, The New Day generated 150,000 sales – three times larger than The Independent, which will close its print operations at the end of the month.
“You might say it wasn’t that bad,” Fox said.
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The Guardian reports that sales declined to 120,000 a week later (Monday 7 March) and were at 110,000 on Tuesday (8 March); however, all reports are unconfirmed and it can take official auditor ABC up to six months to provide figures for a new title.
Commenting on the wider strategy of the business, Fox said that Trinity Mirror is very much a print business that is transitioning into a digital business – and that a successful print operation is core to that transition.
“We don’t have the benefit of venture capital funding to fund that transition; it is the print business that creates the cash to enable us to transform our organisation,” Fox said.
“If our print business is more successful, our organisation is more successful and we can reinvest more in making the very successful digital transition that we’re making.”
