ABC Regional Newspapers Online: Trinity leaps ahead
The latest ABC release for the regional newspaper market is very illuminating – not for the continued percentage declines in newspapers sold, which continues unabated, but for the online usage stats.
The top network last year was Johnston Press with over 400,000 daily unique browsers but in the January to June 2011 period, it only came third. The regional networks have really put some effort in over the last year (other than Johnston Press) to grow their audiences. The top network is Trinity with 468,000 daily unique browsers’s (UB), closely followed by Newsquest with 456,000.
But it is the growth rates that are impressive – with Trinity up 54%, Newsquest up 25% and Northcliffe up 19%. Impressive other than Johnston Press, which has only recorded an 8% increase and slipped to third in the rankings.
Daily Unique Browsers: YoY growth
| Network | Jan-Jun 11 | Jan-Jun 10 | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily UB’s | Daily UB’s | % | |
| Trinity Mirror Regional Network | 468,426 | 304,290 | 53.94 |
| Newsquest Network | 456,230 | 365,659 | 24.77 |
| Johnston Network | 433,544 | 400,612 | 8.22 |
| Northcliffe Media Network | 326,818 | 275,643 | 18.57 |
| Midland News Association Network | 54,859 | 40,398 | 35.80 |
| Iliffe Digital Network | 39,326 | 32,940 | 19.39 |
| Kent Online (KM Group) Network | 17,953 | 15,575 | 15.27 |
The trends are similar in terms of rankings for monthly unique browsers and daily uniques. The growth rates on the monthly figures are higher in all cases than the daily. This is not unusual but the real barometer for a website is daily uniques as this shows a more engaged audience than the possibility of a person (browser) looking at that site only once in a month.
Monthly Unique Browsers: YoY growth
| Network | Jan-Jun 11 | Jan-Jun 10 | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly UB’s | Monthly UB’s | % | |
| Trinity Mirror Regional Network | 9,005,634 | 5,819,646 | 54.75 |
| Newsquest Network | 8,525,236 | 6,472,972 | 31.71 |
| Johnston Network | 7,639,859 | 7,009,847 | 8.99 |
| Northcliffe Media Network | 5,215,954 | 4,042,720 | 29.02 |
| Midland News Association Network | 976,980 | 693,264 | 40.92 |
| Iliffe Digital Network | 668,037 | 542,909 | 23.05 |
| Kent Online (KM Group) Network | 331,339 | 272,921 | 21.40 |
So, what a job Ashley Highfield has – not just in mastering the business in terms of newsprint but also putting a rocket under Johnston’s digital business. For Trinity, a massive growth in online usage at a time when the nationals have seen a boost in fortunes from News of the World closing looks rosy. However, Sly Bailey needs to pull one more rabbit out of the bag for shareholders. The acquisition of Johnston looks a possibility and any value above 5p a share will mean that Highfield will probably walk away with a barrow full of money too.
Your Comments
The point Roger makes is a fair one and should have been referred to in the commentary but the analysis remains valid. Whether growth is organic or through acquisition (both valid strategies) it should not be excluded but just highlighted as a factor that contributed.
Overall the points are still valid – things going well for Trinity (not all those things totally attributable to their own hard work) and not so well for Johnston press. With Johnston, the markets are waiting for another rights issue and it is interesting to note that the shrewdest of the shrewd regional newspaper bosses, Sir Ray Tindle, last week increased his group’s stake to over 4%.
With all due respect to the work being done by my peers at Trinity Mirror, your tables of regional media group website audiences aren’t comparing like Trinity figures with like with the result that have overstated that group’s year-on-year performance.
The Trinity Mirror year-on-year numbers used in your tables have benefited from a 1m+ user windfall because during Jan-June 2011 its network included the Manchester Evening News (MEN), which wasn’t part of that group in the same period last year.
With the MEN numbers stripped out Trinity was a creditable 31.1% up year on year for Jan-June – only just behind Newsquest’s 31.7% increase in monthly unique browsers. (Source: ABC certificates).
Details below:
Jul – Dec monthly average visitors (ABCe); % change year on year
Trinity Mirror including MEN: 9,005,634 – 54.7%
Newsquest: 8,525,236 – 31.7%
Trinity Mirror excl. MEN: 7,630,993 – 31.1%
Northcliffe: 5,215,954 – 29.0%
Johnston Press: 7,639,859 – 9.0%
Hope that’s a useful clarification