Regional Circulation Up Despite Bulk Cuts

Increased circulation of 48% of all regional newspaper titles with ABC membership has been achieved alongside an industry-wide policy of reducing bulk sales and discounted copies, according to the Newspaper Society.

“Despite pursuing a tough policy of reducing bulk sales across the industry the regional press as a sector has managed to improve its overall circulation performance year on year, with more titles showing increases and rate of decline slowed.”

This period saw the highest ever actively purchased sales figures for the regional press, with 98% actively purchased, compared to 96% last period and 96% sold at full price, compared to 94% last period.

55% of weekly titles, which make up 81% of regional titles with ABC membership, showed an increase in the recent ABC data release, compared to 32% six years ago.

The Newspaper Society points out that for many titles, this is the third or fourth period of growth. This has been influenced, says the industry body, by factors such as expanded editorial content, re-designs for some titles, the use of more photographs and colour, and newspaper sales teams working more closely with editorial departments and offering more flexible services to newsagents.

A recent Mintel report also gave a positive message about the position of the press in the UK media mix, saying: “Whatever the competition newspapers represent a powerfully attractive package to consumers in terms of comprehensiveness, portability, cheapness and accessibility. Indeed it might be argued that no alternative can yet match such a combination of distinctive features.”

Newspaper Society: 020 7636 7014 www.newspapersoc.org.uk

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