The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

The Press and Journal will go fully compact size early next year

By Hamish Mackay

December 2, 2011 | 3 min read

The UK’s top-selling regional daily morning newspaper, the Aberdeen-based Press and Journal, is to go fully compact size early next year.

The daily, which is now part of the Dundee-based DC Thomson media group through its Aberdeen Journals Ltd subsidiary, introduced a compact edition on Saturdays several years ago, and switched to compact on Mondays in July this year.

The P&J’s move to compact means that Glasgow-based The Herald and The Courier, Dundee, are Scotland’s only indigenous daily newspapers printed in broadsheet format.

Indeed, of the recognised 16 daily morning newspapers on sale in Scotland, there will now be only four broadsheets – with the Daily Telegraph and Financial Times joining the Herald and The Courier.

The P&J has been the top-selling regional morning newspaper in the UK for a number of years.

In the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) figures for the six-month period from December, 2010 to June this year, the P&J had an average daily sale of 71,044 - a 4.6% drop on corresponding sales for the previous year.

The Courier, Dundee, had a circulation figure of 61,981 – a comparative drop of 4.7%.

The P&J, which for many years was an integral part of Thomson Regional Newspapers (owned by Canadian media magnate, Lord Thomson) was bought by DC Thomson from the Daily Mail and General Trust group in 2006.

First hitting the streets as a weekly in 1747, and known as The Aberdeen’s Journal, it was published on a weekly basis for 128 years until it became a daily newspaper in 1876.

Its editor is Damian Bates who previously edited the P&J’s sister newspaper, the Aberdeen Evening Express, which has a current circulation of around 48,000.

Damian Bates said: "Our Saturday and Monday compact editions have been incredibly well received by readers. They have been asking when the P&J will go compact across the rest of the week.

"We have listened and are keen to give them what they want. It’s been a massive team effort involving editorial, marketing, advertising, circulation, distribution, production and promotions to get this launch ready - and there’s still quite a bit of work to be done.

"There’s going to be a lot of noise about us going compact. Watch this space. The Press and Journal is a brilliant newspaper with a wonderful heritage and we’re very excited about the future.”

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +