Newspaper circulation is down but not out

9 Sep 2013

The global newspaper industry is under pressure and publishers need to be innovative.

Newspapers will continue to take strain as the stressed SA economy exerts increased pressure on consumer spending.

Only a handful of newspapers showed circulation increases in the second quarter of 2013. The latest report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) shows that combined newspapers' circulation fell 3,2% to 3,68m copies from 3,8m in the first quarter. This includes average weekly and daily sales for major newspapers.

The year-on-year decline from the second quarter of 2012 was even bigger - 10,5% from 4,1m.

Of 20 newspapers, only Sowetan and The Times showed both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year improvements.

Dailies overall fell 2,7% quarter on quarter and 8,4% year on year. Weekly newspapers fell by 2,2% and 7,7% and weekend newspapers 3,4% and 12,5%.

The Media Shop strategist Kevin van Deventer expects the trend to continue: "Slow GDP growth forecast, petrol price hikes and the ripple effect these have on people's disposable income mean less cash in hand and lower newspaper sales."

He says tough times will continue for the foreseeable future. The International Monetary Fund has reduced its forecast for SA's GDP growth to 2%. There will also be repercussions from the current industrial strike season.

However, Van Deventer says it's not all doom and gloom for print. He says the latest ABC figures suggest a slowdown in declining circulations. There has also been a rise in the number of print publishers joining the ABC.

Says Sowetan editor Mpumelelo Mkhabela: "In the current difficult trading climate our performance is quite commendable but it doesn't mean there's no further space for growth. There's a lot of scope to continue growing, not just the newspapers but other sources of news such as social media and other digital products."

He notes that his newspaper's circulation of 99,517 is less than half the peak it enjoyed 20 years ago.

"But that's not a fair comparison. Back then there was far less competition and no widespread digital news access, as we have today. The global industry is under pressure and publishers need to be innovative."

Source: Financial Mail, via I-Net Bridge

Source: I-Net Bridge

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