by Herman Manson (@marklives) We reveal the biggest circulating consumer magazines in the South African market.
Category archives: Circulation Data – ABC Analysis
ABC Analysis Q3 2013: Newspapers — a very bad day for the Sunday press
by Herman Manson (@marklives) The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period July 2013 – September 2013. Here are a couple of numbers that stood out in terms of newspaper circulations.
ABC Analysis Q2 2013: MarkLives’ Big Newspaper List
The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period April 2013 to June 2013. Here are a couple of numbers that stood out in terms of newspaper circulations.
Note: We compare the current figures with the same figures for this time last year and not with the previous quarter.
ABC member circulation totals:
Daily Newspapers: down to 1,494,023 from 1,599,299 for the previous corresponding period
Weekly papers: down to 619,400 from 668,954
Weekend papers: down to 2,205,462 from 2,396,355
Local papers: down to 437,815 from 465,158
‘Hydrid’ papers: down to 165,641 from 166,951
ABC Analysis Q2 2013: The biggest circulating consumer magazines in SA
The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period April 2013 to June 2013. Here are a couple of consumer magazine ABC numbers that popped out for us. We also updated our list of the biggest circulating consumer magazines in SA!
Total ABC member circulation fell to 6,135,842 from 7,047,759 in the previous corresponding period (and from 6,207,891 in the previous quarter).
Note: We compare the current figures with the same figures for this time last year and not with the previous quarter!
Waldimar Pelser: “Our rivals on Sunday aren’t other papers; it’s going on a picnic or lying in”
They started on the same day – June 1 this year – and that’s not the only similarity between Waldimar Pelser, the new editor of Rapport, and Bongani Siqoko, editor of the Daily Dispatch.
Both are young editors and are former news editors; both have studied in the UK (Pelser at the elite Oxford University). Both men are very much of their communities and have all sorts of interesting things up their sleeves.
Crucially, both must try grow circulation in this toughest of times in the newspaper industry.
For Pelser, who has been both a foreign correspondent covering Africa and the news editor of Beeld, that means achieving a balance between having stories that are of interest to readers and those that are in the public interest – and not forgetting about reputation and premium-quality journalism packages.
“Circulation is never the only thing one chases,” he told Grubstreet. “Of course, it pays our salaries and we constantly have to find and organically develop new markets. But if it were the only thing that mattered, you would put on the front page that which aims squarely at the lowest common denominator – and probably push up nudity and sex and alarmist politics. But none of these things, we believe, is really in the interest of our readers or journalism as a trade on even the future of democracy.
Pistorius the ultimate litmus test for declining circulation (ABC Q1 2013 figures)
by Gill Moodie (@GrubstreetSA) That SA newspaper circulation is in decline is common cause these days but the latest set of figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations of SA (ABC) figures – for the first quarter of 2013 – really rubs it in.
Consider that we had the biggest, most compelling news event to hit SA in many years – the arrest of Paralympian superstar Oscar Pistorius for the murder of his girlfriend model Reeva Steenkamp in that quarter – and it had little effect on the circulation figures!
While SA web traffic was off the charts in February, our newspapers could not capitalise in terms of sales.
Even Beeld, which is more of a Pretoria newspaper than a Jo’burg one, did not make merry on sales in this quarter despite it serving up the best consistent coverage of the story that happened in its backyard (the murder occurred in Pistorius’ home in Pretoria) with many excellent breaks and exclusives.
Beeld was at 65 645 total circulation in the first quarter of this year compared with 72 599 in the corresponding period a year earlier. Q1 in 2013 was also down on previous quarter – Q4 2012 – which was 66 132.
Maybe the editorial, marketing and distribution departments at Beeld did not co-ordinate on Pistorius – and it would be interesting to know what their returns were in Q1 2013 – and, if so, this is really a publishing failure rather than an editorial one.
When you’ve got big breaks on a big story, you’ve got to make a lot of noise about it – increase the postering and the print run, get the trucks out there early and also get your social-media manager (and you should have one by now: its 2013) piqueing interest. And then you have to keep the exclusive offline for a few hours while you push the papers on the streets.
ABC Analysis Q1 2013: Newspaper circulation decline continues
The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period January 2013 – March 2013. Here are a couple of numbers that stood out in terms of newspaper circulations.
Daily newspapers
Beeld declined to 67,700 from 75,019 in the previous corresponding period. Pretoria News fell to 18,775 from 21,406. Sowetan held steady at 98,258 (compared to 98,128). The Star fell to 106,484 from 124,641.
The Cape Argus fell to 33,247 from 35,493, The Cape Times fell to 35,616 from 39,519. Die Burger (Eastern & Western Cape editions combined) rose sligtly to 62,237 from 61,980.
Daily News fell to 32,002 from 34,173. Isolezwe declined slightly to 116,186 from 117,266. The Witness fell to 19,001 from 20,222 and The Mercury fell to 31,025 from 32,098.
Business Day fell to 33,690 from 35,897. The Citizen fell to 63,854 from 68,632. The Times declined slightly to 142,117 from 142,111.
On the tabloid front the Daily Sun fell from 375,185 to 296,489 (it stood at 322,324 in Q4 2012). Son fell to 92,213 from 104,696
ABC Analysis Q1 2013: The biggest-circulating consumer magazines in SA
The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period January 2013 to March 2013. Here are a couple of consumer magazine ABC numbers that popped out for us. We also updated our list of the biggest circulating consumer magazines in SA!
Note: We compare the current figures with the same figures for this time last year and not with the previous quarter!
Magazines not entertained
On the previous quarter we reported that the ABC figures for music magazine Tempo (from the Huisgenoot brand extension stable) dropped from 62,928 (Q4 2011) to 39,991 (Q4 2012). Well, in Q1 it managed to claim an ABC of exactly 39,991 once again. We smell BS.
Heat fell to 29,422 from 30,193 (but its up on Q4 2012 when it stood at 27,945). People fell to 82,464 from 87,179. TV Plus (Afrikaans) fell to 37,752 from 40,385 and twin title TV Plus (English) declined to 41,594 from 47,140.
Bona fell to 98,267 from 106,981, Drum fell to 121,768 from 138,007, Huisgenoot declined to 285,520 from 298,262 and YOU fell to 165,330 from 181,071 (up from 155,125 in Q4 2012). Reader’s Digest fell to 28,378 from 31,486 for the previous corresponding period. In Q4 2012 it had hit 40,269 – so it’s a bit of a shocker for a title than many have kicked to the curb already.
The Big Issue did very well for itself jumping to 15,074 from 10,651.
Rolling Stone was critised for not publishing its ABC figuires in the last two quarters. They are back in but shows a steady decline – down to 7,155 from 15,889 (total paid: 5,755). This can’t be a sustainable figure surely?
The Red Bulletin slashed circulation to 38,425 from 69,700 (total paid: 19).
Analysis of 2012 Amps readership figures: what lurks beneath for SA newspapers?
by Gill Moodie (@GrubstreetSA) The ABC circulation figures tell us that South African newspaper sales with the exception of the vernacular press are in a sustained decline but the Amps readership numbers – the full-year 2012 Amps were released last week – say that most newspaper titles have maintained their readership.
What gives here?
As we puzzle over the numbers, we know that newspapers have been hammered in developed markets – particularly in the US – and as online and cellphone usage spreads and deepens in SA, we all wonder if the downward move of print circulation will accelerate to match the trends overseas.
On the other hand, there is also the view that because we are an emerging market, print still has legs in this country – particularly in the vernacular press led by the fantastic success story of the isiZulu-language Isolezwe.
What actually is the state of the health of our newspapers?
I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in between the ABC and Amps pictures but, first, let’s look at the main trends in the recently released 2012 Amps figures from the South African Audience Research Foundation.
ABC Analysis Q4 2012: Content marketers see mixed ABC results for custom print titles
The ABC still talks about custom magazines, magazines published on behalf of brands or organisations, even as the companies producing these magazines now prefer to talk about content marketing, and refer to themselves as content marketers rather than publishers.
For the ABC period October 2012 to December 2012, the custom magazine category saw a significant decline as the total number of magazines circulated (per issue) falling to 12,704,431 from 13,416,345. This was primarily because two of the cellular giants pulled the plug on their custom titles. Vodacom discontinued Vodacom Now! (circ 866,090) as did Cell C with its namesake title (circ 126,446). Click sheared nearly 200 000 copies from its club magazine. Dish Commercial (160,424) also closed).