* Please note that The Media has decided not to use Total Circulation figures in this article because these include Bulk Free copies, Third Party Bulk copies and copies for the Print Media in Education (PMIE). Advertisers and media planners are not interested in how many copies were handed out for free or sold at half-price. In this article, the October – December 2006 circulation numbers referred to are Single Copy Sales + Subscriptions.
Zulu-language newspapers Isolezwe, umAfrika and Ilanga Langesonto and several other weeklies, including newcomer The Weekender, have boosted their circulation figures in the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) data while the competitive magazine sector has become its own worst enemy.
One of the big winners was Durban-based Sunday paper Ilanga Langesonto which nearly doubled its copy sales to 70,291 between October and December last year, compared to a total circulation of 41,474 in the corresponding previous period.
The Zulu daily Isolezwe increased its numbers from 88,664 to 96,485 while the weekly umAfrika went up from 21,878 to 32,978.
Local weekly newspapers in general have grown their circulations by more than six percent and weekend papers by 2.7 percent, with newcomer The Weekender beating the odds with copy sales growing to 5,070 and its subscriptions standing on more than 4,100, giving it a total circulation of more than 9,000.
Meanwhile, old hand Mail & Guardian has upped its copy sales from 41,723 to 48,292. Sunday World also boosted its figures from a total circulation of 155,997 to 176,186 excluding Third Party Bulk sales (see our article on page XX).
The City Press enjoyed copy sales of 174,023 and individual subscriptions of 1,098, adding up to 175,121. This excludes the 7,980 copies given to the Print Media in Education (PMIE).
The Sunday Sun broke through the 200,000 mark, up from 188,369 in the previous corresponding period and those numbers are from copy sales and subscriptions alone – no Third Party Bulk or PMIE give-aways.
Beeld on Saturdays (83,298) and Die Burger on Saturdays (101,727), Pretoria News (15,561), Rapport (287,632), The Saturday Star (111,959), Sunday Independent (40,572), Sunday Tribune (99,155), the Weekend Argus (92,263), Volksblad on Saturdays (23,624) and the Weekend Witness (29,512).
At first glance the weekly Son seemed to have dropped, but the dramatic difference in figures is due to the fact that Western Cape Son has moved from a weekly newspaper to a daily newspaper. The weekly Son in Gauteng (41,942), Eastern Cape (21,977) and Free State (12,911) has a total circulation of more than 76,000.
Daily newspapers remained stable with no significant movement besides the Daily Sun continuing its upward trend from 443,280 between October and December last year to 494,875 in the previous corresponding period.
On the magazine side, 17 new consumer magazines were launched in the past year, often at the cost of more established titles.
Media24’s new title Move! aimed at black women in lower income groups has increased its figures from 48,411 to 104,507.
All the established men’s magazines posted lower sales, expect for Popular Mechanics (up from 32,204 to 37,306). Uppercase Media’s new title Zoo Weekly/Zoo Weekliks sold more than 35,000 copies between October and December last year while new Afrikaans monthly Manwees sold some 3,506 copies in stores.
The Afrikaans women’s magazines continued their downward trend – however, Rooi Rose has clawed its way back to the 100,000-mark (105,695) from last year while Sarie remained stable in the 130,000s which is still lower than its 2005 figures that stood in the 140,000s. Leef decreased from 50,063 to 39,338.
According to Gordon Patterson, managing director of Starcom, ”Afrikaans titles are really under enormous pressure.”
However, Lucille van Niekerk, general manager for Beeld, disagrees.
”Looking at the changes to the Afrikaans market over the past 12 months, I really do believe that it is growing in strength year on year. While the general trend of ABCs may indicate that Afrikaans media is dwindling in parts, one must take into consideration the abundance of new Afrikaans titles available to today’s consumer. Logic dictates that favourites will be chosen, resulting in loss of circulation to other titles.
”Given that almost 20 Afrikaans magazines are in circulation, it’s clear to me that the Afrikaans reader is demanding information in their own language.”
She points out that the new-look Insig (up to 10,981 from 10,722) and Tuis (up 85,848 from 83,540) have shown some growth, as did Weg and its English twin Go! with their joint circulation standing strong at 114,169.
Its rivals Wegbreek and Getaway posted copy sales of 17,374 and 59,829 respectively.
Ideas/Idees showed the highest circulation among women’s magazines with 131,279 copies sold. Caxton Magazines’ Woman &Home performed well, with its circulation increasing from 86,623 to 103,866 (excluding total free copies).
Associated Magazines’ Cosmopolitan saw a slight drop but remains strong at 112,721 while Femina, recently sold by Associated Magazines to Media24, slightly upped its figures from 37,357 to 40,173.
On the finance side, the revamped Financial Mail seems to be paying off with its circulation increasing from 24,710 to more than 30,000. Newcomer Entrepreneur seems to be doing well with a circulation of 7,094 (nearly 10,000 of its total circulation of 17,735 are free).
For a full list of the latest ABCs visit marketingweb.co.za
Adspend trends
- ”There is a slowing down of total growth in spending over all media types,” says Janet Proudfoot, director at Nielsen Media Research.
- Total adspend growth (excluding self-promotion) is slowing down. Total adspend in 2006 is up 17 percent from 2005. Between 2004 and 2005, total adspend grew by 20 percent, and it grew by 23 percent the year before.
- Spike in advertising: Easter, Christmas, and for the last two years, at the beginning of Winter.
- Outdoor posted the biggest growth at 30 percent, followed by TV (22 percent) and print (18 percent).
- Radio has slowed down in terms of revenue growth from 22 percent in 2005/2004 to 12 percent in 2005/2006.
- TV has grown by eight percent more than the previous year, while print has declined by two percent.
- Print held 39.91 percent of the total all media split between January and December 2006, while TV held 38.33 percent and radio some 13 percent.
- The internet took 0.87 percent of the total all media split but showed a 24 percent growth in adspend.
Source: Nielsen Media Research
Self-promotion
- TV invested R3.7-billion in promoting its own stations on its own media. Its share of self-promotion stood at 32 percent, compared to 18 percent in 2005.
- Radio used 16 percent of total advertising time as self-promotion, worth more than R500-million. This is the same as in 2005.
- Print’s share of self-promotion in 2006 was four percent or R334-million, the same as in 2005.
Top Ten Advertisers
1. Unilever SA
2. Vodacom
3. Shoprite Checkers
4. MTN
5. Pick ‘n Pay
6. Cell C
7. Standard Bank
8. Nedbank
9. JD Group
10. First Rand Bank
Source: Nielsen Media Research
Circulation trends
The following information, provided by ABC general manager Charles Beiles, compares the fourth quarter in 2006 to the same period in 2005.
- Daily newspapers have grown by six percent.
- Local weekly newspapers have grown by 6.3 percent while local weekend newspapers grew by 2.7 percent with one new title added.
- Custom magazines grew by 8.6 percent.
- Community newspapers grew by 6.6 percent.
- Consumer magazines grew by 45.5 percent, with one new member (Ideas/Idees, circulation 131,279) accounting for 37.5 percent of the increase.
- Main areas of growth within consumer magazines:
- Finance (circulation up by 92.6 percent) with two new titles (Entrepreneur and Maverick);
- Leisure (up 29 percent) with one new title (Computeractive);
- Male (up 17.6 percent) with two new titles (Manwees and Zoo Weekly/Zoo Weekliks);
- Travel (up 21.7 percent) with one new title (Wegbreek);
- Woman’s General (up 14.7 percent) with four new titles (Ideas/Idees, Me!, Real Simple, True Love Babe);
- Youth (up 15.7 percent).
- Business-to-business magazines showed a 10.4 percent increase in circulation with five new titles (Brand, Business Day Africa, Engineer IT, Traders Friend, Focus on Transport and Logistics).
- Free magazines showed a massive 37.7 percent increase with 21 new titles.
- Free newspapers grew by 14.9 percent with seven new titles, bringing the total number of free newspapers measured by the ABC to 130.