This weekend three national papers added new sections; the Saturday Express, the Mail on Sunday and the Independent on Sunday.
The Saturday Express has introduced a weekly listings guide, just one week before the Saturday Mail launches theirs. The Saturday Review is a colour tabloid of 40 pages. The centre pages contain a 7-day TV viewing guide, and the rest of the paper contains articles on the rich and famous, very much in the Hello! style. Featured in this week’s edition were Cindy Crawford filming on location, Ryan Giggs, inside the home of Ralph Lauren, as well as cookery and motoring articles. There are 7 pages (17.5%) given over to advertising, including ads from Benson and Hedges, Tresor, NatWest and Subaru.
The Mail on Sunday introduced its new Night and Day section, which reviews the week. The 48 page colour tabloid section accompanies the glossy You magazine. Night and Day has a more up-market feel than You magazine, with in-depth reports on Paul Condon, the Lloyd’s Names’ losses, as well as reviewing the arts and television from the previous week. 17 of the 48 pages (35%) are given to advertisements, with double pages taken by Hush Puppies, Haagen Dazs and Jaeger.
The Independent on Sunday this week has increased. A separate sports section has been added; the business section has increased from tabloid to broadsheet, and the Review magazine has been given extra editorial pages.
The new sports section is 12 pages. Full details of Saturday’s games are listed, as well as features; yesterday’s edition contained articles on Maradona and Torville and Dean. Mercedes has taken the last page in advertising. The Business broadsheet section is 22 pages, and analyses the future of the cable industry, Wall Street, and personal finance as well as the latest business news. There are four full pages of recruitment classified ads.
The Review section is now a hefty 112 pages long, 34% of which is given over to ads. Haagen Dazs have taken a double page, as have Marks and Spencer and Fiat.
This Sunday the Independent increased its cover price from 90p to £1, in a brave gamble that price is not that influential amongst the quality press. Tomorrow the Independent will include a third section, and will also increase price from 45p to 50p. There will be a review of its new section tomorrow on MediaTel.
On yesterday’s Money Programme, Sir David English, chairman of Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail said that the group would be interested in buying the Independent, but only for a very low price.
