NewsLine End Of Year Round-Up: Press
January
The Times made an optimistic start to 2004 by extending the availability of its recently launched compact edition to areas outside of the original London trial zone (see Times Extends Availability Of Compact Edition). The paper also received a boost to its compact confidences with the latest ABC circulation figures revealing that the launch of its tabloid edition had boosted circulation by 2.3% (see Tabloid Launch Boosts Circulation At The Times).
Elsewhere, the Independent announced that it would completely replace its broadsheet edition one day a week, launching a tabloid-only version of its Saturday paper at the end of January (see Independent To Launch Compact Saturday Edition).
Meanwhile, Trinity Mirror moved to challenge the likes of Chat, Take A Break and That’s Life with the launch of Take It Easy, a new weekly title to be given away free with the People on Sundays (see Trinity Mirror Takes It Easy With New Weekly Magazine).
Metro UK had a busy month, expanding its network of free-sheet newspapers to a further five cities across the country, in a move that promised to boost the paper’s overall circulation to around 1 million (see Metro UK Launches New Editions In Five New Cities).
Newspaper advertising was also under scrutiny in January, with advertisers warned that too many newspaper campaigns failed to deliver the required results due to poor quality creative work. The warning was issued by the World Association Of Newspapers, which claimed that the impact of creativity is often underestimated (see Too Many Newspaper Campaigns Fail To Deliver).
In the magazine world, however, things looked more positive, with IPC securing a number of high-profile advertising partners for the £8 million launch of its new men’s lifestyle magazine, Nuts, which was undergoing trials with one million potential readers at the beginning of the month (see Advertisers Get On Board As IPC Unleashes Nuts).
Another of the biggest press stories of the year was also in the first stages of development in January, as Hollinger International called an emergency board meeting to discuss whether to block a £260 million bid by the reclusive Barclay brothers to acquire The Daily and Sunday Telegraph (see Dispute Grows As Barclay Brothers Move On Telegraph Titles).
February
The Independent ditched its broadsheet edition across a number of areas in February, including Wales, Scotland, Ireland and South-West England, in a move that many believed would bring the newspaper a step closer to becoming fully tabloid (see Independent Ditches Broadsheet Edition In Some Areas).
Elsewhere the Times suffered at the hands of the NRS survey, with the latest results showing that the newspaper’s compact edition had failed to boost its readership (see NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – December 2003).
However, ABC circulation figures for January showed that the tabloid editions of both newspapers had contributed to a boost in sales (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up – January 2004), a statistic which encouraged News International to extend the compact Times to the Yorkshire and Tyne Tees regions, suggesting to some that national availability of the tabloid edition could soon be a reality (see News International Extends Sale Of Tabloid Times).
The Newspaper Marketing Agency confirmed that advertising revenue figures for national newspapers would be published on a monthly basis in an attempt to make the medium more accountable (see National Newspapers To Publish Monthly Revenue Figures), while The Daily Mail & General Trust entered the battle to take control of the Telegraph newspapers, teaming up with private equity firm Cinven to raise the necessary funding (see DMGT Enters Telegraph Battle As Hollinger Receives Bids).
In the magazine world, The National Magazine Company announced plans to close its contract publishing division after just two years, due to what it claimed were insufficient margins (see Natmags Closes Contract Publishing Arm After Two Years). Elsewhere, a new bi-monthly magazine aimed at preparing men for the various perils and pitfalls of their wedding day prepared to hit news-stands dubbed Stag & Groom, created by Hanage Publishing (see New Magazine Aims To Groom Men For Wedded Bliss).
March
The Telegraph sale saga continued throughout March, with the Barclay brothers understood to be putting together a new deal to buy the titles. Amongst the possibilities believed to be on the brothers’ agenda was a search for a private equity partner to launch a bid for all the assets of Hollinger International (see Barclays Seek Equity Partner For Hollinger Bid).
Elsewhere Richard Desmond, owner of the Express Newspaper Group, revealed that he had sold off his soft porn titles for an estimated £20 million in an attempt to improve his chances of buying the Daily Telegraph (see Desmond Pawns Adult Magazines For Telegraph Bid). Desmond’s optimism was short-lived, however, as later in the month he announced that Express Newspapers had withdrawn from the bidding war. It is understood that that Lord Black’s beleaguered newspaper group told Desmond that he would have to increase his bid of around £550 million by a further £50 million to be seriously considered (see Desmond Withdraws From Telegraph Race).
March also saw the release of January’s NRS figures, indicating a wide-ranging decline in readership for the newspaper industry as a whole at the beginning of 2004, with both tabloid and broadsheet papers struggling against the downward trend and only a handful of titles experiencing any growth (see NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – January 2004). However, the tabloid Independent continued to go from strength to strength, with ABC results for February showing a 3% rise in circulation (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up – February 2004).
Dark days were afoot for magazine giant Emap during March, as the publisher confirmed plans to close its veteran teenage magazine J-17 and suspended publication of style bible The Face. The publisher revealed that the last edition of J-17 would go on sale on 12 April almost twenty years after launching into the notoriously fickle teenage market (see Emap Confirms J-17 To Close And Face Suspended).
Free-sheet newspapers were less downbeat, however, with Metro International’s annual readership survey showing that the titles had continued to increase in popularity and were read by almost 20% of the urban population in eleven cities across Europe in March. The survey of the reading habits of 63 million people living in 28 urban centres across Europe showed that younger men and women have a preference for free daily papers rather than paid-for titles (see Free-Sheet Newspapers Continue To See Readership Rise).
April
April was a busy month for magazines, seeing several new launches, as well as closures. IPC began the month by announcing the creation of TeenNow, aiming to take on Emap’s Sneak in the increasingly competitive teenage magazine market. The title, a spin-off of IPC’s highly successful celebrity magazine, Now, catered for older teenage girls interested in the latest gossip on the rich and famous (see IPC To Take On Sneak With Teen Version Of Now).
The publisher also unveiled its newest sports title, Total Golf, in April, targeting style conscious young men with time to play the sport and cash to spend (see IPC Tees Off In Style With New Golf Mag).
Elsewhere, IPC celebrated the tenth birthday of iconic men’s lifestyle magazine Loaded with a series of advertising campaigns, special issues and outrageous stunts marking a decade of the title’s existence (see Loaded Celebrates Tenth Birthday With Advertising Push).
Things were less rosy at 19 magazine, however, as IPC Southbank announced the imminent closure of the title. The May issue of the magazine would be the last, with IPC blaming a shift in teenage reading habits for the decision (see 19 Magazine To Close After Current Issue).
Meanwhile, rival Emap had made the long awaited decision to shut down The Face after failing to find a suitable buyer for the veteran style bible. However, Emap retained ownership of The Face brand, allowing for a possible revival of the title in the future (see Emap Closes Face After Failing To Find Buyer).
Mediaedge:CIA revealed that a slow turnaround was taking place amongst the newspaper advertising industry, with an increase of 113,818 ad pages recorded for the past year. The research outlined an optimistic 2004, with momentum built up in January looking set to continue (see Newspaper Advertising Momentum To Continue In 2004).
Speculation surrounding the sale of the Telegraph titles continued in April, with a pre-tax profit announcement of between £45 million and £50 million for the year expected to push up the price that bidders were willing to pay for the company (see Telegraph’s £50 Million Profit Could Push Up Bids).
May
US-based international media group, Pearson, announced that it was on target to hit full-year profit forecasts in May, claiming that advertising revenues for its flagship newspaper, the Financial Times, had recovered, leading the publisher to be more optimistic (see Financial Times Sees Advertising Revenue Recover).
At the other end of the scale, Times Newspapers revealed that its losses were expected to reach in excess of £28.6 million in 2004, up from £16.3 million last year. The group, which publishes The Times and The Sunday Times, was understood to have filed accounts revealing it was still very much in the red, despite a small rise in turnover to £378 million in 2003, with the situation set to worsen as the publisher planned to spend £12 million producing and marketing its new compact, even though readers had been slow to adopt the new version (see Tabloid Pushes Losses At The Times To £28 Million).
Meanwhile, the release of the latest NRS survey revealed The Times‘ readership to be in decline by 17.6% year on year during March to just under 1.6 million (see Times Readership Slumps Amid Mounting Losses).
The Daily Mail & General Trust’s bid to take control of the Telegraph titles was thrown into doubt in May, following the company’s split with private equity house Cinven. The move left the newspaper group to search for another partner before the impending deadline for completed bids (see Daily Mail Drops Cinven As Partner For Telegraph Bid).
Elsewhere, Northern & Shell chairman, Richard Desmond, reaffirmed his commitment to launching a free-sheet evening newspaper in London to compete directly with the Evening Standard. According to Desmond, everything was in place for the newspaper’s launch and all that was required was official clearance from the Office of Fair Trading (see Desmond Reaffirms Plans To Launch London Free-Sheet).
The News Of The World was also active in May, announcing a rise in its cover price of 5p. The move followed the release of ABC figures showing a dip in the paper’s circulation, despite a series of high profile exclusives (see News Of The World To Boost Cover Price).
However, it was the Independent which grabbed headlines in May, announcing that it would become completely tabloid in a move that will finally consign the broadsheet edition of the paper to the scrap-heap (see Independent Ditches Broadsheet To Go Totally Tabloid).
In magazines, The National Magazine Company formed a joint venture with American publishing giant Rodale International, in a move that promised to launch of a range of new health and fitness titles (see Natmags Forms New Joint Venture Company With Rodale).
Meanwhile Dennis Publishing announced that it would stop producing its monthly women’s health and beauty magazine Shape, after failing to compete for advertising revenue in the increasingly crowded health, fitness and beauty sector (see Dennis Out Of Shape As Women’s Title Is Dropped).
June
More magazine closures were seen at the beginning of June, with niche publisher Swinstead Publishing announcing its closure in a move that signalled the demise of style magazine Sleaze Nation and music quarterly Jockey Slut (see Magazine Closures As Swinstead Publishing Folds).
IPC was also busy, with plans to to reduce the size of its glossy women’s monthly Marie Claire believed to be an attempt to boost the magazine’s flagging circulation. The ongoing growth of Condé Nast’s handbag-sized Glamour and the expansion of the celebrity magazine sector over the last few years had impacted badly on monthly titles targeting twenty-something women, an issue IPC was keen to address (see IPC Scales Down Marie Claire To Boost Circulation).Elsewhere, expansion was on the cards for The Times, as it announced plans to roll-out its compact edition across the whole of the UK. The move came just weeks after the Independent announced it would be publishing in fully-tabloid form, however, the Times insisted that it was totally committed to publishing its broadsheet version alongside the commuter-friendly tabloid (see Times Rolls Out Compact Edition Across The UK).
New figures from the ABC revealed the Guardian has regained valuable ground against its broadsheet rivals in May, with circulation increasing by a solid 2.1% to just under the 390,000 mark (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up May 2004). The title had been hard hit by the popularity of the Independent and the Times‘ compact editions. However, the decision not to ape its quality rivals appeared to be paying off for the paper, which was believed to be considering a midsize edition somewhere between a compact and a broadsheet, backed by a £50 million investment programme (see Guardian Takes Titles Compact With £50 Million Investment).
Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail & General Trust ended its bid for control of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph in June, as bids for the titles approached the £700 million mark. The company was understood to have reached its spending limit and was unable to compete with the ever escalating bids from rivals (see Daily Mail Pulls Out Of Race For Telegraph Titles).
However, the month drew to a close with the announcement that the billionaire Barclay brothers had succeeded in their hard-fought battle to take control of the newspapers, with a winning bid worth £665 million (see Barclay Brothers Take Control Of Telegraph Titles).
Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond reportedly registered the name London i as the title for his planned free-sheet newspaper in June. It was thought the new title would compete with the Evening Standard and the Metro in the capital, although Desmond was still awaiting approval from the Office of Fair Trading for the new venture (see Desmond Eyes New Name For Planned London Free-Sheet).
July
The Times hit back at doubts over its tabloid edition’s performance in July with the release of research showing the paper to be successful in attracting new readers to the newspaper brand. According to the study the scaled-down edition was successful in drawing a young, upmarket audience to the newspaper, which was traditionally seen as a stalwart of older readers (see Compact Times Proves Successful In Attracting New Readers).
Elsewhere, sales of traditional men’s lifestyle magazines were believed to be falling rapidly following the multi-million pound launch of weekly competitors, Nuts and Zoo, earlier in the year. Senior magazine had claimed that the launch of Emap and IPC Media’s weekly titles had dented the circulations of their more established monthly counterparts, FHM and Loaded (see Nuts And Zoo Hit Sales Of Monthly Lads’ Mags).
Later in the month Emap embarked on a frenzy of redesign work across its portfolio, beginning with a new look for its long running men’s monthly, FHM, building on months of consumer research and adding several new sections with the revamped title (see Emap Unveils New Look FHM To Boost Readership Figures). The publisher also rolled out a £600,000 cross-media advertising campaign to promote the relaunch of its flagship music magazine Q, hoping to give the magazine a lift following a decline in its circulation (see Emap Launches Campaign To Promote Q Redesign).
In addition Emap announced plans to revamp its flagship film and entertainment title Empire, comprising a new logo, strapline, size and editorial layout, as part of a move to reposition the magazine to build on its increasingly international focus (see Emap Redesigns Empire With An International Focus). The publisher also revealed plans to revamp its flagship teen magazine Bliss in an attempt to offer readers more grown-up content (see Bliss Gets A Facelift To Compete In Tricky Teen Market).
Meanwhile, Juicy, a new lifestyle magazine published independently and preaching “urban style and culture” hoped to capitalise on the audiences left floundering following the closures of lifestyle bibles Sleaze and The Face (see Juicy New Title To Poach Sleaze And Face Readers).
August
Emap became the first magazine publisher to strip out bulk sales figures for its consumer titles in August, taking the move as part of a drive for increased transparency in the release of Audit Bureau of Circulations data.
The company stated that it would now submit only ‘active purchase’ data for its portfolio of magazines, which fall into the Emap Consumer Media, Emap Performance and Emap Esprit divisions. Headline circulation figures would include news-stand sales and single subscriptions, but would exclude all bulk sales including sampling and give-aways (see Emap Strips Out Bulk Sales Figures For Consumer Titles).
Elsewhere, Hachette Filipacchi announced that its women’s monthly Elle would be slimmed down to create a new-look travel edition. The move followed size reductions in a number of titles from Hachette’s rivals, including magazine heavyweights Emap and IPC (see Hachette Slims Down Elle For Travel Size Edition).
Meanwhile BBC Magazines reached the milestone of half a million subscribers to its range of publications, marking a record-breaking response to increased investment by the company in subscription marketing (see BBC Magazines Celebrates Half A Million Subscriptions).
News also came that the Barclay brothers would not be expected to face a public interest regulatory test over their acquisition of the Daily Telegraph, meaning that final clearance for the £665 million deal was just a formality to be completed in August (see Telegraph Take-Over To Escape Public Interest Test).
Good news was also in store for IPC in August, as its recently launched Nuts saw off competition from Emap’s Zoo to take the coveted top spot in the fledgling men’s weekly market, according to the latest ABC consumer magazine figures for the six months to June 2004 (see ABC Results Jan-Jun 2004: Nuts Out In Front Of Zoo).
However, German magazine publisher H Bauer made its entry into the fledgling men’s weekly market with the launch of its much anticipated Cut magazine, hoping to put pressure on both IPC and Emap with a magazine providing the best of the week’s news as a comical readers digest in the familiar ‘boobs and booze’ format (see H Bauer Launches Cut With Major Advertising Campaign).
International consumer magazine group, Future Network, was also busy with new titles during August, announcing the £2.5 million acquisition of PC Zone and Computer & Video Games from the US publishing house, Dennis Publishing (see Future Network Buys Games Mags For £2.5 Million).
Elsewhere news came that the Independent‘s decision to drop its broadsheet format in favour of the new commuter friendly compact had helped the title to increase its readership by an impressive 15.8% year on year during May to just below the 700,000 mark (see NRS national Mewspaper Round-Up – May 2004).
The Telegraph continued under the Barclay brothers’ new regime during August, with Murdoch MacLennan, managing director of Associated Newspapers, poached to become chief executive of the Telegraph titles (see Telegraph Raids Rival Associated For New Chief Executive). In turn, Associated Newspapers wasted no time in announcing the appointment of Kevin Beatty as its new managing director, replacing MacLennan just two days after the announcement of his departure (see Associated Appoints Beatty As New Managing Director).
September
Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail and General Trust announced the purchase of classified advertising specialist Bargain Pages Media for a total of £8.5 million at the beginning of September, a move which saw the Birmingham based operation become part of DMGT’s regional newspaper division, Northcliffe Newspapers Group (see Daily Mail Snaps Up Midlands Bargain Papers).
Elsewhere, The Times launched a multi-million pound advertising campaign featuring stars such as Gordon Ramsay, Johnny Wilkson and Jodie Kidd in an attempt to establish itself as a balanced and agenda setting newspaper (see Times Turns To Celebrities With New Branding Campaign).
The latest NRS figures made uncomfortable reading for the Guardian, which lost more than a quarter of its overall readership in the twelve months to June as the new tabloid incarnation of the Independent went from strength to strength in the broadsheet sector. The latest NRS national newspaper figures showed that the Guardian‘s readership had declined by 25.7% year on year to just over the one million mark as the title struggled in the face of increasing competition (see NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – June 2004).
The Independent, however, was intent on a programme of expansion, capitalising on its success and announcing that it would carry a new Media Weekly section, clearly targeting readers of the rival Media Guardian with regular contributions from a range of high-profile industry figures (see Independent Tackles Guardian With Weekly Media Section).
Meanwhile in the magazine sector, new research from IPC Innovator revealed that sampling of beauty products in consumer magazines can increase product awareness, the chance of readers trying a product and the likelihood of further sales. The research, conducted in collaboration with advertising consultancy Sampling Innovations, consisted of telephone interviews with 1,000 Marie Claire readers and established key differences between readers exposed to an ad campaign that included a sachet and another display page that did not (see IPC Reveals Power Of Sampling In Magazines).
Rival magazine firm, Highbury Entertainment, announced the return of Mike Frey to the UK to succeed Mark Simpson as managing director in September, bringing to an end Frey’s three-year stint heading the company’s Australian division (see Highbury Entertainment Welcomes New Managing Director).
Richard Desmond was back at the centre of speculation during September, as his Northern & Shell publishing company was rumoured to be making its first foray into the women’s glossy magazine market with the launch of a new fashion focused title called B Happy (see Desmond Gears Up For Launch Of New Women’s Glossy).
October
IPC Media announced plans to extend the syndication of its most famous brands at the beginning of October, with the creation of a new division dubbed IPC+ designed to handle the licensing of its operations world-wide (see IPC Focuses On Syndication To Boost Brand Power).
Meanwhile, Emap unveiled a new look for its weekly teen magazine Sneak, following in-depth research carried out over the summer to boost the title’s circulation (see Emap Sneaks In Redesign Of Weekly Teen Title). The publisher also announced that it was to develop a new title to cater for the upmarket end of the already crowded women’s magazine market based on Italian fashion weekly, Grazia (see Emap Targets Older Readers With Upmarket Women’s Title).
Consumer magazine publisher, Future Network, was also planning new launches in October, announcing that at least nine new magazines would be created over the next 12 months with the publisher hoping to tap in to the US action sports sector in order to boost group revenues in 2005 (see Future To Launch Raft Of Titles Over Next Year).
In newspapers, The Daily Telegraph announced that it would abandon its five year-old media section as part of a change of emphasis that would see it focus more on its key strengths and less on specialist sections (see Telegraph Calls Time On Weekly Media Section). October also saw two top ranking executives at the group hand in their notices, marking the first casualties of management restructuring at the company, now under the control of the Barclay brothers (see Telegraph Bosses Jump Ship As Barclays Plot New Course).
The Times also confirmed that it would drop its broadsheet edition in October, publishing in tabloid only format from Monday to Saturday. The move left only the Sunday Times in broadsheet format, completing the newspaper’s gradual transition to tabloid only publication which had seen its large-format edition being phased out in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the West Country (see Times Confirms Tabloid Only Publication From Monday).
November
November was a quiet month for the newspaper industry as a whole, but saw Trinity Mirror secure a landmark deal with the Guardian Media Group to share a £45 million investment in new printing equipment, a move which saw Trinity take on a 15-year contract to print GMG’s regional titles in the North West, starting in early 2006 (see Trinity Mirror To Print Guardian Media Group Titles).
November also saw the Newspaper Marketing Agency unveil the second stage of its research into newspaper advertising effectiveness, claiming that print campaigns can double brand commitment amongst readers. The research was part of the NMA’s Measuring Advertising Effectiveness of Newspapers study, the first part of which was published in June following its creation at the beginning of the year (see Research Claims Newspaper Ads Double Brand Commitment).
December
Future Publishing started December with the appointment of Richard Schofield as its new head of marketing, charged with creating an aggressive new promotional plan for Future’s portfolio of titles (see Future Appoints Marketing Head For Aggressive Strategy). The company also announced the acquisition of Beach Magazines and Publishing Ltd, along with its three magazines Junior, Junior Pregnancy and Wedding Day (see Future Expands Portolio With Beach Acquisition).
December was not without its closures, however, as H Bauer’s struggling weekly men’s magazine, Cut, was dealt a final blow as publishing bosses at the German magazine giant decided to close the magazine during a 30-day consultation period (see Bauer Cuts Its Losses On Fledgling Men’s Mag).
Highbury House also indicated that a number of the magazines in its portfolio will face closure or consolidation over the next year, as the company sought to cut costs and recoup some of the revenue which evaded it during 2004 (see Highbury To Close Titles As 2004 Proves Unsuccessful).
The National Magazine Company announced the release of monthly sales figures for the past three ABC periods in December, marking a break from the ranks of rival publishers which will see monthly data released concurrently with ABC’s official six monthly average (see Natmags To Release Monthly Circulation Data).
There was excitement amongst the newspaper industry in December, as it was revealed that Associated Newspapers’ highly anticipated free-sheet was due to hit the streets, entitled Evening Standard Lite, the newspaper targeted upmarket females aged 18 to 35 within central London (see Evening Standard Lite To Launch Next Week).
Elsewhere the Financial Times announced the closure of its Creative Business media section just a month after denying reports that the supplement was to fold. The newspaper announced that the section was to be wound down, with media news instead being incorporated into the main newspaper on a monthly basis (see FT Pulls The Plug On Creative Business).
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