February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Newspaper circulation figures for the second half of last year revealed Ireland on Sunday’s dramatic surge to sell 151,630 copies, a 185 percent year-on-year increase.
Now owned by Britain’s Associated Newspapers, Ireland on Sunday has used a series of giveaways, like CD compilations, magazines and cover price reductions, to boost sales.
Worst hit has been the Independent-owned Sunday World, which was down 11,000 copies to 283,612. The circulation of the Sunday Independent, the Independent-owned Sunday Tribune and the Examiner-owned Sunday Business Post also declined.
To hammer home its message, Ireland on Sunday took out full pages advertisements in the Irish Times headed, “Read it and weep, Tony,” in reference to the Independent group’s Sir Tony O’Reilly.
The advertisement said that in the three months to last December, weekly sales were up further, to 162,543 and that the figures for January and February were even better.
In the daily market, after a change of editor and staff cutbacks, the Irish Times saw its sales fall by more than 5,000, to 114,537.
The Irish Independent was down slightly to 169,533 but remains the clear market leader. There were circulation increases for the Irish Examiner and the Star.
With Ireland on Sunday shaking up the weekend market, a new paper for the capital, the Dublin Daily News, hopes to ruffle feathers during the week.
The Dublin Daily will be edited by Liam Hayes, the former Meath GAA star and ex-editor of Ireland on Sunday. As its name suggests, it is pitching for readers in the greater Dublin area and will publish Monday to Friday.
With persistent rumors that Associated Newspapers is planning a push into the market later this year with an Irish version of its Daily Mail, a major circulation war could be in the offing.
Since the collapse of the Irish Press Group, the Independent has dominated the daily market with the Irish Independent, the Evening Herald and a half share in the Star.
Previous attempts to start a daily newspaper in the capital have failed when backers ran out of cash.
As the massive spending by Ireland on Sunday has shown, big promotional budgets are needed to break through what Hayes describes as the “hockey stick” effect.
New newspapers start out on a substantial high as a result of “curiosity” buys before the circulation drops back. It then rises again before leveling off and getting stuck.
Ireland on Sunday sold 96,000 copies when it was launched. It then fell back, before building again to about 55,000 before the deep pockets of Associated Newspapers sent it surging.
As part of its promotion, the Dublin Daily News has signed up the Dublin GAA team for marketing and advertising.
With the players helping to establish brand identity, the deal will boost its efforts to hit a target of 25,000 to 30,000 copies in the first year.
A problem will be attracting advertising revenue in what is traditionally a low-spending period in the year.
Many of the Dublin Daily’s editorial team are veterans of Ireland on Sunday.
The shareholders include a consortium of business people led by Paschal Taggart, who was also involved in Ireland on Sunday, British newspaper group Archant and management and staff.