The latest count of media reach, the Audit Bureau of Circulations Analysis Q1 2016, covers the first quarter of this year measured against the same period last year. It shows a decline of just over 1.3-million copies for the daily papers and a smaller decline, mostly in the thousands, for the weekend and weekly papers – though a loss of tens of thousands for the Sundays is painful.
The Mail & Guardian is one of only two papers showing some growth and, in our case, it’s a fair jump upwards: we are selling about 34 400 copies a week, having sold an average of 30 000 copies a week in the same quarter a year ago. (The other paper to show growth is the Cape Argus, whose year-on-year comparison shows an uptick of little more than 100 copies.)
It is no secret that this newspaper and its associated media platforms has been through a tough time recently – all the media, as the newspaper figures from the ABC show, are having a very tough time. The M&G has survived and is restructuring to assure that survival.
More and more readers are accessing our internet and other electronic forms – a good sign that we can monetize digital production sufficiently to keep expanding.
We believe we have made these gains by providing readers with excellent content, in-depth stories of what is going on in South Africa, the region and the world. We will build on those gains.