A new English-language daily called Nova hit Johannesburg newsstands on Monday, targeting ”professionals on the move” who are confident in South Africa’s multiracial future.
Competing with six other daily newspapers in South Africa’s richest Gauteng province, Nova is hoping to reach a mix of Afrikaans and English speakers as well as the upcoming black middle-class.
”I hope it soon becomes part of the lives of professionals on the move in this [province], the most dynamic market by far in all of Africa,” publisher Deon du Plessis said in an editorial.
The paper, printed in tabloid format, is meant for ”smart, busy people in the suburbs” who believe the ”future will be better than the past”, he added.
About 100 000 copies of the newspaper were printed on Monday.
The front page carried a story on Johannesburg’s electricity supplier, notorious for regular power cuts, which is to be replaced next year with a new provider.
”The front page is pretty smart. That is quite a smart lead because it [power failures] affects everyone … but I expected one or two more in-depth thought-provoking features,” said Kevin Bloom, editor of the The Media magazine.
”I think it looks promising… Deon du Plessis knows how to capture under-reserved markets,” he added.
Nova, published by South African media house Naspers, also devotes a few pages to local news and two pages to finance, and features a six-page sport supplement, an international section and a 24-page magazine with mainly entertainment news.
Nova‘s targeted reader is between 25 and 40 years old and does not read a newspaper at the moment because there is nothing catering to his or her interests, deputy editor Minette Ferreira said.
”It’s the new South African … Many of them were still at school when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. They don’t have the baggage of apartheid,” Ferreira added.
Du Plessis became a successful player in the media industry when he launched the Daily Sun tabloid in Gauteng three years ago, targeting the township market until then shunned by newspapers.
It took the market by storm, started turning around a profit in just 18 months and became the new number-one Johannesburg daily in two years, with about two million readers, more than three times higher than its closest rival, The Star. — Sapa-AFP