Media Analysis: Sunday papers give it away

The MoS has been the most active, giving away CDs from the likes of
McFly, Prince and Paul McCartney, while The Sunday Telegraph has run a
series of promotions for DVDs charting Margaret Thatcher's time in
office. The Independent on Sunday, meanwhile, has been giving away a
series of books on the subject of religion.

It is notable, then, that Katie Vanneck, sales and marketing director at
Times Media Group, has spoken out against the newspaper industry's
reliance on giveaways, and has suggested that the relaunched Sunday
Times will run covermounts only with relevance to specific editorial
content.

'The over-reliance on (covermounts) has become extremely pronounced in
recent years,' she says. 'As an industry, I don't think there's any
particular pride in the fact that we use giveaways to sell a newspaper.
Even though promotions are part of the marketing mix, it is not right
when the industry relies on them.'

Vanneck also believes that running covermounts effectively rewards the
readers of Sunday newspapers for their disloyalty. 'Promotions won't
totally disappear from The Sunday Times, but we will sell the newspaper
on the brand, the content, the sub-brands and the product, week in, week
out,' she adds.

Given the declining fortunes of Sunday newspapers, it is understandable
that many have reverted to the covermount, despite the widespread
acknowledgement that it is only a short-term solution to their
problems.

The year-on-year circulation of Sunday newspapers declined across the
board last month (see data file). The biggest fallers were the IoS and
The Sunday Express, the year-on-year circulations of which dropped by
15% and 9% respectively.

Carat media director Justin Barnes says Vanneck is right to resist the
lure of giveaways unrelated to editorial content and instead rely on
customer loyalty. He argues that The Sunday Times has taken a brave, but
laudable, stance. '(This strategy) will help improve the quality of (The
Sunday Times') readership as people will now buy the paper for the
editorial product, rather than a giveaway,' says Barnes.

'It's a tough climate for the Sunday papers,' he adds. 'The challenge
for the "qualities" relates to the size of their product.' He explains
that many covermounts are 'huge' and that the smaller-format newspapers
struggle to present them in an uncluttered way that does not distract
from the main product - the title behind the giveaway.

Sales force

Zed Media buying director Anthony Gibson-Watt disagrees. He says the
giveaways help newspapers attract new readers. 'Newspapers have to work
hard to attract younger and newer (readers) and how they do it is up to
them,' he argues. 'There are other ways to attract them, such as
investing more heavily in online content and promotions, but the quality
newspaper sector is very different from the rest, so covermounts can be
relevant for certain markets.'

The Sunday Telegraph's marketing director, Barry Flanigan, also defends
the practice, which he says is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
He does, however, offer some provisos. 'Covermount promotions can be
effective in boosting sales, but in the past there has been an
over-reliance on them, and that has to change,' he says. 'They will
remain an element of the marketing mix for The Sunday Telegraph, but
will not be its central driver of sales.'

Newspaper publishers are aware that covermounts have negative effects -
such as the potential loss of reader loyalty and the expense involved -
but their use looks likely to continue as an easy way of adding
perceived value to struggling Sunday titles. It will be interesting to
see whether Vanneck stays true to her word and keeps The Sunday Times
free of gratuitous giveaways.

- Leader, page 23

DATA FILE - ABCS FOR JUNE 2008



Title Circulation Yr-on-yr Mth-on-mth

change(%) change (%)



News of the World 3,170,181 -3.04 1.00

The Mail on Sunday 2,204,058 -3.17 -1.50

Sunday Mirror 1,336,918 -5.28 -0.32

The Sunday Times 1,148,287 -2.19 -3.25

Sunday Express 677,053 -8.92 2.90

The People 639,771 -13.13 -1.05

The Sunday Telegraph 632,244 -3.10 -0.53

The Observer 437,798 -3.02 -3.52

Daily Star Sunday 378,954 -4.04 3.40

Independent on Sunday 209,561 -14.80 4.30



Source: ABC