THERE will be a race on August 12 this year -- not to bring home the
grouse, but to get out the news. Two new projected Sunday newspapers
intend to bring out their first full-scale dummies on Sunday, August 13.
The Sunday Correspondent's launch date is September 17, giving them five
weeks of trial and error to knock the format and printing style into
shape. The Independent On Sunday's launch date depends on the fate of
the Correspondent, but they are gearing up for action.
The declining sales of the existing quality Sunday papers, far from
being a deterrent, are the spur to the new thinking, to the extent of
excited talk of another newspaper war based on editorial content instead
of free gifts and competitions. The success of the daily Independent,
despite predictions of despair, has provided the confidence for others
to turn ideas into reality, and has provided a role model that the
Correspondent is following very closely.
Chief executive Nick Shott, in Glasgow yesterday on the last leg of a
round-Britain tour wooing advertising agencies, was confident he was
winning over the cynics.
After 18 years at Express Newspapers, where he became group marketing
director, he is now aiming unequivocally at an AB readership, although
expecting to pick up some sales from the top end of the middle market.
Sidestepping the theory of the market gap into which the new product
will neatly fit, he cites once again the experience of the Independent,
which took readers from its rivals among the qualities, who in turn
gained new readers from elsewhere.
Sunday newspapers are slightly different, but Mr Shott clearly sets
store by the market research they have carried out extensively and
assiduously, which shows increasing dissatisfaction with both the Sunday
Times and Observer and interest in a new quality Sunday paper from at
least half, and more significantly the younger, readers of the Guardian
and the Independent.
The theory that the popularity of their recently expanded Saturday
editions will mean that some people will spread thair daily newspaper
over the weekend and not buy a separate Sunday is dismissed by the
Correspondent's team, who point out that sales of the heavier Sundays
have been declining over several years and did not happen last autumn
with the launch of the Independent's magazine and the revamped Guardian
Weekend.
The prospect of an Independent On Sunday remains a spectre on the
horizon. Nick Shott agrees that both are unlikely to succeed, and that
the announcement of a September 17 launch for the Correspondent has
effectively spiked their guns. Stephen Glover, the Independent's foreign
editor, who is editor designate of the Independent On Sunday, believes
it is the Sunday Correspondent that will fail:
''The economics of a stand-alone Sunday paper are very difficult, even
with contracted-out printing. It is difficult to imagine how it can
avoid refinancing, and will probably need more money early next year. We
believe that we will have a better product, because we will have a much
bigger pool of correspondents to draw from. In terms of foreign
correspondents, for example, we will have a pool of about 20 where they
will have three or four.
''We are going ahead with a complete dummy on August 13, with live
copy from more than 100 journalists, and we will then put it out to
market research for comparison with existing newspapers. The
Correspondent may be doing the same, but we have time on our side.''
The Correspondent's circulation and advertising targets have been
carefully pitched at a modest level of average sales of 360,000 in the
first year. That is the break-even point, although only about half the
Observer level or a quarter of the Sunday Times. It is a figure that
would have been impossible to sustain a stand-alone Sunday newspaper
even a few years ago. The economics are possible by contracted-out
printing (at Portsmouth, Peterborough, and Stoke-on-Trent) and
distribution by road as well as new technology with direct input by
journalists. The plan is to come out of the first year with a
circulation of 425,000.
While their initial share of circulation is targeted at 13%, they have
budgeted for only 7% of the advertising. They expect to get #15m of the
#234m worth of advertising in the quality Sunday market at the moment.
Despite predictions of an economic downturn, Mr Shott points out that
the Advertising Association is still predicting growth, although it may
be as low as 1%.
Unlike the competition there will be no regional advertising -- and no
special supplement for Scotland -- although there will be page changes
for Scotland, Wales, and English regions particularly for sport, but
also to take account of special interest stories. The target circulation
for Scotland is 40,000, and that is expected to be complementary to
rather than in competition with Scotland On Sunday.
The competitors remain the Sunday Times and Observer north of the
Border. They took advice, but the unionist view prevailed: ''The quality
readership we are after includes the strong business community in
Scotland who recognise they are part of the UK business sector. We do
not want to produce a supplement which says, in a patronising way,
'here's a bit for Scotland','' said Mr Shott.
The true gap in the market will become apparent only when potential
readers see the quality of the product, he says, claiming that
politically it will be ''non-aligned, but not neutral in the sense of
being woolly-minded and sitting on the fence.'' Their research has
revealed an unexpected public awareness of proprietorial pressure.
''People see that the Observer has been used to press the case against
the Fayeds and that the Sunday Times is being used to promote Sky
Television. None of our financial backers has more than 8% of the
equity, so there is no danger of one proprietor using it as a vehicle to
promote his interest,'' he said.
A surprise among the backers, which include the Prudential Group,
Hambros, Rothschild Ventures, Guardian Royal Exchange, Eagle Star,
Barclays Bank, and the Clydesdale Bank, is the Tribune Company of
Chicago, publishers of the Chicago Tribune. ''Their policy could not be
more hands-off. They say if we want their help or knowledge, then it is
up to us to go to them and ask for it.''
The format will be broadsheet, but with only two sections plus a
colour magazine. The first section will be news, business, and politics
and the second features, books, arts, and sport. The colour section will
be a magazine, not a supplement, and will never have more than 50%
advertising, edited by Henry Porter of the Illustrated London News. Mr
Shott expects him to produce more of the individual style of journalism
that sent reporters to top London restaurants with doggy bags and then
on to the Environmental Health Department to the subsequent
mortification of famous names.
''People do not want huge papers. On a Sunday they want news plus
something lighter in the way of features. One thing our surveys have
revealed is that people now equate quality with boring and entertaining
with downmarket. Neither of those should be true. There is room for
entertainment, elegance, and wit.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article