The Mail & Guardian has seen a 7% increase in weekly sales for the final quarter of 2010, taking circulation figures for the period to 50 225 compared with 46 932 for the same period in 2009. This is according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, which tracks circulation figures for print publications in South Africa.
The paper has bucked international trends towards lower sales for print publications. In South Africa, most newspapers have seen a drop in circulation. Over the same period Business Day‘s circulation dropped by almost 3%, City Press dropped 9% and the Sunday Times dropped 0,4%.
Editor-in-chief Nic Dawes put the Mail & Guardian‘s increase in sales down to two factors — an improved distribution system and quality content. “An improved distribution system means the Mail & Guardian is more widely and more timeously available, [and] our editorial team is producing the kind of highly relevant news breaks and compelling analysis that South Africans need to make sense of a complex, sometimes fraught, country,” he said. “To put it more briefly, better distribution gets us a foot in the door, and great journalism closes the sale.”
Anastacia Martin, publisher of the M&G, said the strength of the publication rests on its power to report fairly and analytically on the status of South Africa and the world. “Our growth in sales is testament to our readers’ faith in us at a time when government threatens to muzzle the media” she added.
The paper also has a growing digital footprint. About 625 000 readers read the M&G online each month and the paper’s digital edition is delivered to almost 800 subscribers each week. In February, the M&G also launched its Kindle edition, a first for an African newspaper.
This week the Mail & Guardian‘s Matuma Letsoalo, Nikiwe Bikitsha, and Niren Tolsi were nominated for the prestigious Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards. The amaBhungane investigations unit was also nominated for its work as were political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro and graphic artist John McCann. Writer Mara Kardas-Nelson and photographer Samantha Reinders were also nominated for a series of articles on acid mine drainage.