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Media 24 to launch a new daily newspaper

8 Sep 2005

Media 24 continues in its quest to dominate the media landscape in South Africa with the launch this Monday of a new daily called 'Nova', termed a 'compact tabloid' aimed at the younger professional in an attempt to capture the under-40s who are not reading newspapers regularly. The group is hoping that publisher Deon du Plessis will work his magic once again.

According to the press release, Media 24 says it is always keen to expand and develop the South African newspaper market and wants to empower local audiences with a wider range of newspaper products from which to choose. In fact, Jan Malherbe, head of Media 24's newspaper operations, says it is a strategic obligation to invest in undertakings which have the potential to increase the pool of people who read newspapers.

The Daily Sun, launched three years ago and now selling an average of nearly 440 000 newspapers a day (ABC Jan to June 2005), is one example, as is Die Son, the Afrikaans-language newspaper published as a weekly nationally and also as a daily in the Cape. The Sunday Sun is another example of an initiative which has expanded the newspaper-reading market.

Following on these successes, Media 24 has decided to target a new audience. The new Monday-to-Friday daily will be christened Nova. It will be tabloid in shape and size - but very different in content. It will in fact be South Africa's first ''compact'' newspaper. And it will be aimed at younger professional and other working people. Those between the ages of 25 and 40 are at the core of the target market who enjoy a high educational standard, a high income, and are heavily brand-conscious.... yet do not read daily newspapers on a regular basis.

The payoff line on Nova's front page will be: ''A new world, a new paper", which the publishers hope completely describes Nova's look, feel, design and style.

Deon du Plessis, who remains publisher of Daily Sun, will be the launch editor of the new title and the publisher. Nova's general manager will be Fergus Sampson, general manager of Daily Sun and the man who launched the People's Paper with Du Plessis. Sampson also retains his Daily Sun responsibilities.

Day-to-day editorial affairs will be run by Minette Ferreira (28), formerly chief sub editor of Daily Sun. Du Plessis describes her as ''bright, ambitious... and absolutely representative of the market niche Nova is going after.''

Nova kicks off on Monday September 19.