Newsprint decline, particularly regional, is a popular topic by industry commentators (“Regional newspaper titles suffer yet more substantial sales declines”, here), and while we have no opinion on the broader debate, NLA media access does have a unique position to assess pagination and article trends across a vast number of UK newspapers due to the hosting of content in our eClips database.
The results might be surprising. As this chart below shows, while national news pages are declining, the regional press is on the up, and 2013 versus 2014 was no exception. Take a couple of examples: the Halifax Evening Courier pagination was up 32%, and article counts up 11%, while the Islington Gazette had pagination up 16% and article counts up 14%. Impressive stuff.
Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising to some avid readers of local news. Brits spend 85% of their life within 10 miles of where they live – interest in local news is bound to be there.
Many local papers have great brand strength and are investing in new ways to tie in readers. 2014 saw the launch of London Live TV, possibly helping out its print partner the London Evening Standard - daily readership of the ES recently grew by more than a third in the past 12 months (Source: National Readership Survey).
My local paper, the Gravesend Messenger (part of the KM Group) ties me in across multiple platforms. I can engage directly with its journalists and other readers through social media, and follow breaking news on its website before enjoying full stories in the weekly print edition. KM Group’s investment in their brands seems to be transitioning to their collective licensing revenues. In the last five years, NLA royalties paid back to KM Group have doubled.
