Launch Of New Sunday Business Paper

Yesterday saw the launch of the new national business paper, Sunday Business. The paper managed to launch amid difficulties and controversy which last week had seemed likely to delay publication. The paper’s printers, West Ferry printers, owned by the Daily Telegraph group and United News and Media pulled out of the deal, as did one of the paper’s financial backers. It is widely reported that a mystery backer who stepped in at the last minute was the entrepreneur Owen Oyston. The paper also launched without its planned TV commercial due to their agency, Arc Advertising pulling out on Thursday. The paper was also plagued by threatened legal action over controversial stories in the dummy issue.

The paper has five sections; a main news section and a personal finance section called Money and Life, both broadsheet; two tabloid sections, Computer Age, and Trading Week in conjunction with Bloomberg, and a review magazine called Business and Fortune. The paper is packed with stories and photographs which give it a more interesting feel than most business sections. With a cover price of 85p, the paper has a total pagination of 164 pages, on a par with most Sunday quality papers, (excepting the Sunday Times.)

The paper leads with a report that Michael Portillo is to award a multi-billion pound arms deal to Britain in a move to save Tory seats, but this is widely reported by rival papers to be said to be untrue by the Ministry of Defence. Other features include Chris Tarrant’s new career, Ann Summer’s largest expansion to date, Frank Bruno’s financial future and the fight against computer viruses.

Whilst the other papers do their best to highlight the problems of the new paper, agency reaction has been mixed. The quiet launch meant agencies were worried about how many copies will have been sold, with the vast majority of the public probably unaware of the launch.

Mike Goodman of Abbott Mead Vickers thought the new paper was “impressive” and “substantial”, making an “entertaining read for senior businessmen.” However, he pointed out that the total lack of news other than business is noticeable by its absence (no sport either). Whilst he thinks the paper will appeal to businessmen, the Sunday Business will only be bought in conjunction with one of the other papers, not as an alternative.

Suzanne Jordan, Press Buyer at The Network said she found the paper generally good, easy to read and to understand, but perhaps too simplistic for its target market. “It’s not the FT”.

Colin Gottlieb from Manning Gottlieb Media however, thought the paper overall was “disappointing”, although this was no great surprise given last week’s problems. The format is interesting and the layout of the paper is good, but, Colin believes, the paper needs to put itself into a “must have” position by the quality of its editorial. “It is good, but good is not enough. It has to be outstanding, offering more than any current read”.

National Sunday/Business Newspapers, Ranked by Circulation

Source: ABC/NRS