Innovation and Unmatched Local Focus Secures Future Health of Regional Press

Future prospects for the UK regional press sector in terms of circulation and readership remain good, as do predictions for advertising revenues, in print and online. A new report published by Mintel this week identifies real growth opportunities and demonstrates the grounds for confidence in a healthy future for the sector.

The report entitled Regional Newspapers, November 2005 is part of the UK Market Intelligence series of reports. It points out that increasing competition has led to considerable change and innovation in regional and local newspapers.

The author of the report, Claire Birks, said: “Print newspapers offer a unique mix of qualities compared with all the competitive media, while the regional press also offers an unmatched local focus. This coupled with the innovation and development which has taken place in the sector will ensure their continued success in the market.”

The report points to the industry’s continued investment in new colour presses, relaunches and editions for its core products, while greatly extending its presence in the community with a broadening product portfolio of websites, magazines and broadcast platforms.

“Advertising has a dual importance to the regional press, both in its importance to readers (especially classified) and in its major contribution to revenue,” says the report. “Despite competition from other media channels there seems to be every reason for confidence in future advertising revenues, both display and classified, with already strong coverage now reinforced by a range of complementary local media including online.”

Mintel recognises that, although online readers are not currently included in any estimates of regional press readership, nevertheless they are “a real addition to total readership”, so that raw circulation figures should be considered in that light.

It says the online challenge is one that has been embraced by regional press publishers, illustrated by the Fish4 classified site set up in 1999 by a number of major groups as well as more recent acquisitions of specialist online operators by groups like Trinity Mirror. It cites Advertising Association figures showing that online recruitment advertising on the regional press’s own websites [excluding Fish4] has more than doubled in the last two years to £33 million in 2004.

David Newell, director of the Newspaper Society, said: “It is an exciting time for Britain’s regional press. I have never seen such dynamism, innovation and development of new platforms and opportunities across the industry. It is good to see an independent research company like Mintel recognising that regional publishers are well ahead of the game in securing their place at the heart of local communities, both in the short and longer term.”

Looking to the future, the Mintel report says that “newspapers offer many strengths in their portability, cheapness and accessibility as well as providing a good mix of news and views, information and entertainment, and they are not about to disappear even in the face of the competitive pressures which can only grow. Regional newspapers have an additional strength and point of difference in that they offer a level of detail on local news and information that cannot be equalled by any other media.”

The report concludes that the regional press’s “strengths remain despite the competition and the job of publishers is to embrace the appropriate technology to counter current challenges and bring together the strengths of a print and an online edition of a newspaper into one entity benefiting both reader and advertiser. They seem set fair to doing so.”

View the Executive Summary

Press:

For a copy of the report, please contact Jenny Catlin at Mintel on 020 7600 5703 or e-mail jcatlin@mintel.com.

For further details please contact Martha Leary-Tanner or Lynne Anderson on
020 7636 7014 or e-mail martha_lt@newspapersoc.org.uk or e-mail lynne_anderson@newspapersoc.org.uk.

The Newspaper Society, the voice of Britain's regional and local press, represents around 1,300 daily and weekly, paid-for and free, newspaper titles in the UK.

The Newspaper Society is a member of UK Publishing Media: a £18 billion alliance of newspapers, magazines and books, which collectively represent one of the largest investors in the rapidly-expanding information society.