isiZulu papers' success highlight gap in the market

The battle is still on for the future of freedom of speech in this country but those that predict the fall of newspapers to online and mobile would do well to look at how fabulously well the isiZulu newspapers are doing in KZN - and they have even showed circulation growth through the recession, a year in which almost all South African paper suffered sales declines.

Circulation numbers are big

The circulation numbers for the Durban-based twice-weekly Ilanga and daily Isolezwe are big.

Compare, for instance, their ABC circulation figures to that of the two English dailies in Durban, The Mercury and the Daily News. Ilanga sold an average 109 447 papers twice a week (at R2.30 cover price) in the first quarter of this year while Isolezwe (at R2.70) did 104 481 daily sales. The Mercury morning newspaper sold 35 002 (at a cover price of R5.50) and the Daily News afternoon newspaper had a circulation of 40 054 (at R4.50).

Then there's the weekend edition of Ilanga - called Langesonto - that did 82 673 and Isolezwe's Sunday edition - ngeSonto - with 71 219. The Sunday Tribune, the Durban-based English-language Sunday paper - sells 90 428, according to the ABC figures.

The isiZulu papers are, quite simply, thriving - and Isolezwe, which is owned by Independent Newspapers, was launched in 2002. Not only has its growth been phenomenal but it's clear it has picked up many new readers and did not cull those from Ilanga, the century-old paper started by John Dube and that is now owned by the Inkatha Freedom Party's investment arm.

Limited appeal

A third isiZulu newspaper that has always been owned or part-owned by the Catholic Church, UmAfrika, seems to have lost out to Isolezwe but its connection to the Catholic Church has always limited is appeal. UmAfrika (which is sold for R2.70) was at 21 716 in the last ABC figures, compared to 29 931 a year earlier.

So, like the Daily Sun tabloid, now the biggest daily paper in the country eight years after it was started by Media24, it appears that Ilanga and Isolezwe are going about the business of creating a newspaper-reading market, which is cheerfully consistent with the latest circulation figures from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). These figures, released earlier this month, showed that, despite the impact of the global recession and the rise of digital media, newspaper circulation was on the up in developing markets.

Paid-for daily newspaper circulation fell -0.8% globally in 2009 from a year earlier to 517 million copies, according to WAN-IFRA, but was up +1% in Asia and +4.8% in Africa. It fell -3.4% in North America, -4.6% in South America, -5.6% in Europe and -1.5% in Australia and Oceania.

So what are Ilanga and Isolezwe doing right as vernacular newspapers that others in the industry can learn from? Well, a chat with the astute Eric Ndiyane, Ilanga's editor and news editor proves to be illuminating.

All down to content

Ndiyane, who was also one of the founders of Isolezwe, says it's all down to content.

The tabloid-format paper focuses on human-interest stories in its community and politics, especially the Zulu royal family. It has gotten great mileage out of its contacts in Nkandla and the presidential family. It was Ilanga that broke the Ma Ntuli story earlier this year about the wife of President Jacob Zuma allegedly having had an affair with one of the presidential bodyguards.

It also covers soccer above all sports and the lives of celebrity soccer players.

If the royals, politics, football and celebrity sounds familiar, it's because this is the recipe that has served the British tabloids such as The Sun so well.

Which is interesting, because Ndiyane says Ilanga repositioned itself in the 1980s to be a more mainstream professional newspaper, as readers had started to turning away from its less-than-credible mix of witchcraft and "hearsay stories that the people were talking about in shebeens and taxis".

The difference is

Sensational witchcraft stories are, of course, an important part of the Daily Sun's content mix but the difference is that the Daily Sun is very skilfully edited, entertaining and informative, with all the news of the day in short, accessible stories.

Imvo, the isiXhosa-language newspaper started by John Jabavu in 1884 in the Eastern Cape, was closed a few years back largely because it failed to see that its Tokoloshe-dominated content had lost credibility with its readers, says Ndiyane.

Ilanga's biggest challenge is convincing advertisers to buy into its middle-class and lower-LSM readers and the paper relies mostly on government advertising, but this isn't stopping it from opening up new territories and seeking out isiZulu speakers throughout South Africa. The paper already circulates throughout the whole of KZN and in pockets of the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

In fact, Ilanga Langesonto is opening a bureau in Johannesburg in the next couple of months as part of a more aggressive push into the Gauteng market and the plan is for Ilanga to follow.

Escaped the notice

It may seem bleeding obvious but I'd say one of the biggest reasons for Ilanga and Isolezwe's success is that people like getting professionally put-together news in their home language - a fact which seems to have escaped the notice of many media planners, advertisers and publishers.

I'd say there is a huge gap in the market for Ilanga and Isolezwe-style vernacular papers across the country - not least in the Eastern Cape, where the Imvo brand has venerable roots. Ndiyane says he's been amazed to find isiXhosa readers for Ilanga in the Transkei and the paper has received letters on occasion from as far south as Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape.

Clearly, the appetite is there - and they may well be totally new readers - which is the best thought of all, as it reminds us that SA is such an interesting media market with lots of room for development.

For more:

• Bizcommunity Press Office: Independent Newspapers KZN