What News of the World closure means for Scottish newspaper market
Jenny McManus, press account director at Feather Brooksbank, warns that any attempts to scoop News of the World readers in Scotland may be short lived.
Following the announcement of the closure of the News of the World, I imagine the chiefs at the Sunday Mail are rubbing their hands in anticipation at the opportunity for them to increase their circulation, ad revenue and perhaps as a result their rates - which in newspaper land today is rare.
However the Sunday Mail is a very different product to the NotW, which has much greater talk-ability and is far more edgy. Therefore the Sunday Mail does need to address its editorial content if it is to attract and hold on to new readers and with the recent losses in editorial staff it might not be an easy task.
The Scottish Mail on Sunday currently circulates around the 100k mark each week and is up a decent 7% yoy in Scotland. This title could actually benefit the most; they have two great supplements each week and carry a lot of Scottish editorial in paper.
They also, unlike some other titles, don’t have any perceived regional bias or allegiance. Nonetheless, they should address the lack of regionally relevant ad content in paper and consider how they can use this opportunity to grow ad revenue in Scotland.
As things stand we can buy Scottish space in the Scottish Mail on Sunday but availability is very poor and therefore this title often gets taken off our consideration list when planning campaigns.
Scotland is an important market to both the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday and currently they are missing a trick on a Sunday by not having the flexibility they have during the week, nor do they run any Scottish classified space. The Daily Mail has been going after the Sun’s Saturday sale for some time and therefore it is definitely a smart move to continue with Fabulous magazine as this will really enhance the Sun’s Saturday offering given that Buzz hasn’t made a big impact.
I would like to see the Sunday Herald seize this opportunity and go after the NotW’s younger readers. This title aesthetically has all the right attributes to reach a young audience and might be well placed to introduce a quality listings supplement in its Sunday package to rival Seven Days as although A Listed wasn’t hugely successful it offered entertainments clients a decent alternative to Seven Days and could help drive ad revenue in the Sunday Herald.
However, any attempts to scoop up News of the World readers in Scotland may be short lived given the speculation of a seven day Sun.