Sunday newspapers pick up sales despite final edition of NoW selling an extra 1.5m copies
The sudden death, or should it be suicide, of the News of the World evidently produced a surge in sales for a number of Sunday titles.
The final issue of the News of the World is reported to have sold around 4m copies, while many readers with an interest in the phone-hacking saga bought as many as an extra 2 million copies of Sunday newspapers, says the Guardian.
The broadsheet reported that Sunday's surge in sales of for the final edition of the 168-year-old News of the World, which signed-off with the headline "Thank you and goodbye", is the highest the paper has managed since the late 1990s.
The title had been selling an average of 2.66m copies, and there were predictions that sales might be affected by a boycott following new phone-hacking revelations. “However”, points out The Guardian: “many put aside their animosity to grab a piece of newspaper history: about 1.5m extra copies are thought to have been sold.
Apparently the rush in sales extended to the quality Sunday titles, including the Sunday Telegraph and the Observer, however News International title The Sunday Times is thought to have not 'performed any better' than on a typical week.
“The closure of the News of the World – potential relaunch notwithstanding – will at a stroke see more than a quarter of total sales disappears, with many readers unlikely to switch to another title, according to forecasts. Analysts have said it could cause ‘measurable damage’ to the sector," says the report.
The Guardian reveals that media industry sources have claimed that a consortium of media and business figures want to revive the NoW title as a responsible investigative newspaper - employing its existing staff.
It claims that the plan is being spearheaded by Sue Douglas, a former editor of the Sunday Express and former deputy editor of the Sunday Times. The consortium is said to be targeting private equity firms to try and raise funds to buy the operation.
“But”, states The Guardian, “it is unlikely that Rupert Murdoch, the owner of News International which published the NoW, will sell the brand.
Rumours of The Sun becoming a seven day news room were also strengthened yesterday with the discovery that The Sun on Sunday was registered at Companies House.