As far as the executives of ThisDay are concerned, no South African newspaper has tackled the gap they’re after. Newly-installed CEO Graeme King and editorial director John Matisson argue that the country does not have, nor has it ever had, a national daily aimed at LSMs 6 to 10. ”The strong dailies are not ‘true’ national newspapers,” insists King. The former managing director of Independent for Kwazulu-Natal, one-time Chairman of the Newspaper Association of South Africa and South African Director of the World Association of Newspapers (1998 2001), goes on to list his perceived competitors in turn. The Citizen, suggests King, is more a paper of national record than one that seriously analyses news events. He contends that the Sowetan is not a national title, and appear to be having trouble with their strategy. The Star, he says, is on a drive to attract readers in LSM 5 and 6, so readers in LSM 7 to 10 are deserting. ”I would say this is true of all the Independent dailies,” he adds, ”except the Mercury and the Cape Times, but they are very parochial in terms of content.”
King doesn’t see the Afrikaans titles as a threat to his English-language strategy. As for the Daily Sun, he emphasises their market is in the lower LSMs. ”The Business Day is a niche newspaper,” he continues. ”They will never get rid of that, no matter how hard they try.”
Matisson wraps up the argument by insisting that the Sunday Times is the only authentic national newspaper in the country although Johnnic Publishing’s flagship is, of course, a weekly.
So a Nigerian-funded title is going to be South Africa’s first national daily aimed at the upper LSMs? A question. If there’s such a cavernous hole in the newspaper market, why haven’t the big local groups plugged it yet?
”Part of the problem are constraints in distribution,” says King. ”It’s a constraint for us as well. At this stage we are dependent on the existing infrastructure and we are currently deciding whether we’ll be distributing through Allied or Media 24.”
But aren’t these distribution networks owned and operated by the big local groups anyway? Distribution might be a concern, but it clearly isn’t the only reason South Africa hasn’t seen a ‘true’ upmarket national daily. A thornier constraint could be editorial. How does one attract, retain and build a core countrywide readership in what is essentially a heterogeneous society?
”Look at the success of the Sunday Times in doing that,” King responds. ”Also, previous research undertaken by Independent confirms there is a huge sense of wanting to belong to the South African nation. The strongest results came from Isolezwe, where the readers asked that they not be treated as an enclave.”
Jos Kuper, ThisDay’s own commissioned research expert, concurs. ”South African’s interests are converging,” she says. ”That is the critical variable. People are shifting away from socio-political drivers towards socio-economic drivers. There is room for growth in lots of markets, and for additional penetration of newspapers. Dissatisfaction is being expressed with current products, so if you produce the right product there will be a market.”
Matisson touches on the editorial strategy he hopes will define the ‘product’: ”We’ll be aggressively independent of political and business interests. The key thing is to be respected.”
And launch date? ”Why would I answer that question? When it happens, everybody will know.”