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Happy first birthday to The Times
The Times, the morning daily newspaper from the Sunday Times stable, officially celebrates its first year today, Thursday, 5 June 2008, and according to Avusa Media, the positive public uptake the daily has exceeded its expectations. “In our first year of operation, not only have we boldly catapulted the company into a new media era but also succeeded as a new South African daily newspaper where many others have failed,” says The Times editor Ray Hartley.
He adds, “Recent industry audits have shown a very positive response to The Times and figures that have notably surpassed our projections.”
Comments Chris Moerdyk, media and marketing analyst and Bizcommunity.com columnist, "The Times has lived up to all its promises and has turned out to be a wonderful daily read. It is certainly unique in terms of media innovation and makes a enormous amount of sense in terms of leveraging the Sunday Times brand. Brilliant strategy.
“In marketing terms it is still growing and proving itself and as usual marketers and advertisers seem to be taking a long time to wake up to its extensive and unique reach into the target market. It's not often a newspaper can identify the bulk of its readership by name and address. I have no doubt it will become one of the country's most successful daily advertising platform."
Readership
The latest AMPS 2007B data shows that The Times has an average issue readership (AIR) figure of 340 000 and just over a million people have come across it since its launch in June 2007.
Before the launch of the new daily paper in June last year, a survey was conducted by the Sunday Times with a sample of 1200 of its subscriber households to test its viability. Results of the survey forecasted a figure of just over 310 000. The AMPS figures, therefore, came in 10% higher than initially predicted.
Other key predictions that AMPS has now confirmed include that 85% of The Times readers fall into the high LSM range, LSM 7 - 10, and that there is a ratio of 55% male to 45% female readers. The AMPS results also established that the paper has a good racial demographic spread and is read by a predominantly younger audience, between the ages of 25 to 49.
Audited circulation
The latest audited circulation for The Times shows it has also risen by more than 10% since the launch. The Times is delivered for free to the homes of Sunday Times subscribers each day from Monday to Friday. When launched the paper was delivered to 120 000 subscribers and now current circulation figures are just over 133 000.
“This positions The Times among top morning newspapers based on circulation. We also seek the top-end readers and I don't think there is another product as targeted. All of this proves that The Times is a fantastic advertising platform for marketers,” points out Hartley.
While stabilising and growing advertising actively remains the focus, advertising in the newspaper has increased since the launch of The Times.
Two measurable examples of businesses receiving great responses when advertising in The Times are from top travel companies Starlight Travel and Getaway Travel. After placing full page ads, both companies were thrilled when they received more than 100 bookings and a few hundred enquiries for each promotion. Getaway and Starlight have both followed up with extra ads and continue to receive bookings.
Site traffic
Traffic to The Times site, www.thetimes.co.za, has grown by approximately 117% from April 2007 to April 2008 according to audited figures from Nielsen//Netratings. Traffic to the multimedia section has grown by over 147% since January. The online growth is also evident in The Times website receiving almost 4-million pageviews in April, with over 400 comments posted about articles viewed on the site. There has also been the recent launch of a new multimedia portal, http://multimedia.thetimes.co.za, which is the only one of its kind in SA. It showcases video, audio, photographs and movie trailers in a single page.
“Online revenues over the past 12 months have been the best we've ever experienced and we expect the upcoming year to be even more prosperous. The recent inception of iLab, a division of Avusa Media, is geared towards improving our existing content channels and making them more lucrative for advertisers. In addition, we are placing an emphasis on innovation and new product development,” says Colin Daniels, publisher of The Times Online .
One of the most successful advertising campaigns to date was for Nokia to advertise its N95 series. It was the pioneer for the new ‘ad peeler' on the site, which allows the advertiser to run an exclusive position on the top right-hand side of a web page. When the advert is scrolled over it ‘peels down' the page to reveal a banner behind it. In only one month, the Nokia ‘ad peeler' on the homepage alone received over two-million page impressions and an unprecedented 4745 clicks.
Traffic intersections
Following the public's positive response The Times went on sale at major traffic intersections in Johannesburg and Pretoria in February this year.
The street sales are wrapped in plastic, which provides an opportunity for advertisers to insert samples. The general public can also now buy The Times daily newspaper at Pick 'n Pay Hypermarkets and Supermarkets and at BP Express Stores in Gauteng, the Western Cape, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. There are plans for The Times to be available at additional retailers.
The best of The Times
A look at some of the best front page leads, with audio commentary from Ray Hartley, editor-in-chief.
