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The shootout: City Press vs Sunday Times
3 Apr 2012
The Sunday Times is getting fat and dominates the Sunday print market, but that doesn't mean it can become complacent. Media24 knows a thing or two about the online space, and it has the resources to give Avusa a wake-up call.
If you picked up the Sunday Times recently, you'd probably need both hands to lift up the mother of all papers. Under the covers is a growing forest or two of inserts. Brands such as Edgars, CNA, CTM, Pick n Pay, Checkers, Stuttafords, Telkom and Woolworths are investing good advertising spend in Avusa's weekly.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) says 27 newspapers with a combined circulation of 2365 million compete for the Sunday market, but Sunday Times takes the print lead with copy sales of some 262 992. Moreover, it is also the only top title to show year-on-year growth.
| Rank | Publication name | Copy sales >50% - 2011 | % Change on prior year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunday Times | 262,992 | 6.03% |
| 2 | Sunday Sun | 212,102 | -6.41% |
| 3 | Rapport | 201,983 | -9.22% |
| 4 | City Press | 146,036 | -3.38% |
| 5 | Sunday World | 121,943 | -7.88% |
Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Then there's the matter of clout. News has become so commoditised that dominating influence means breaking headlines, owning the media agenda, and investing in quality journalism to sort the also-rans from the big guns. One of many lenses for tracking who has local influence is to determine how often a newspaper is quoted by its media peers. Recent Media Tenor research indicates the Sunday Times is the most quoted traditional medium in South Africa; this for the sixth time in a row.
The interesting departure for the usual order is that City Press moved up a notch, taking second position from Mail & Guardian, which has dropped to being the third most quoted news source in the country. Breaking big, attention-grabbing stories and investigative journalism is where value lies, and the three weeklies have the most powerful investigative teams in the country.
Continue reading the full story on www.dailymaverick.co.za.
Source: Daily Maverick
Daily Maverick is a unique blend of news, information, analysis and opinion delivered from our newsrooms in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. There are many ways to describe exactly what we do (and for the price of a cup of coffee we’re capable of talking your ears off about it), but the best way to understand the end result is to experience it. Every part of Daily Maverick is free-to-air and no payment is required, although free registration is required for a small subset of functions and pages.
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Go to: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
About Mandy de Waal: @mandyldewaal
Editor, writer and researcher. *Editor of #TheFutureByDesign & The Africa Annual *Published in Africa's Greatest Entrepreneurs *Published in Rolling Stone Magazine, The Guardian (UK), Daily Maverick, Finweek, Mail & Guardian, City Press, Rapport, Moneyweb, Noseweek; Brainstorm Magazine; ITWeb, and MarkLives. *Before becoming a full time writer, de Waal founded brand agency Idea Engineers, and led the Cape Town office of Text 100.
