The Mail &Guardian is one of only three national weekly newspapers to have posted significant year-on-year circulation increases in the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) certificate issued on August 2.
The declining circulation figures for most urban daily and weekly newspapers reveal one thing: South Africans are reading less.
Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, and three print publications have managed to surge ahead while the industry is feeling the pinch of lower sales figures:
Sowetan Sunday World has shown an unprecedented growth in circulation of a staggering 93,78%, from 43 873 to 85 015.
Soccer-Laduma grew by 16,79%.
And the third publication to show significant growth is the M&G 14,53% up. Its current circulation is 42 649 in comparison to 37 240 for July to December last year.
“We are now the fastest-growing quality newspaper in South Africa,” says editor Howard Barrell. “And we owe this to the discernment of our readers. The reason for our impressive growth is content, content, content and readability.”
“We will continue to give our readers what they want. And our new trendsetting design will assist us in doing so,” Barrell added.
Since O2 Communications was brought in to handle the M&G’s marketing in 1999, the publication has shown a overall increase of 29,11% in circulation.
Business Day saw a fall to 43 388 from 45 050, a decrease of 3,7%. During the same period The Citizen dropped by 12,9%, The Sunday Independent by 8,4% and The Independent on Saturday by 18%. The Star’s circulation increased by only 0,3%.
The only newspapers recording significant circulation increases are all weekly publications with a large black readership.