NotW ad spend still up for grabs

News of the World advertisers are yet to reallocate their £38 million annual expenditure, according to the Guardian.

Publishers may have to wait until October before media agencies agree to redistribute the NotW ad spend, however, some analysts expect that a lot of the money may have come out of the national newspaper market permanently.

Sunday tabloids such as the Sunday Mirror and People, which have seen a boost in sales following aggressive price-cutting, promotional and marketing campaigns since the NotW‘s demise, are keen to secure the ad money. Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror, said: “We will take the ABC [results] to market. We are pleased – we got the strategy right.”

However, insiders suggest that publishers will need more than one ABC certificate because the three week audited period after the NotW closed is not long enough to see consistent trends.

According to our estimates, the Sunday market was down nearly half a million copies on 31 July (compared to June’s ABC figures). The first Sunday after the NotW closed saw sales rise by 100,000 copies but each subsequent week saw sales slip.

However, the Sunday Mirror is holding reasonably firm and the other Trinity Mirror Group publication, The People, has also seen consistent sales since the shutting of NotW.

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