Summary
Australian newspaper sales are bucking the international trend for the industry by remaining remarkably resilient in the face of the economic crisis.
The figures also prove that newspaper sales are going against the trend in the US and UK.
The figures also prove that newspaper sales are going against the trend in the US and UK.
In sharp contrast, the three top Australian broadsheets, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, increased their combined Monday to Friday sales by 0.2 per cent year-on-year.
Analysis
The significant ownership change during the year has been the merger of the two large companies, Rural Press and Fairfax Media, leaving only one metropolitan daily paper, The West Australian, controlled by proprietors independent of News Limited and Fairfax. There have been no newspaper closures in the past twelve months and one new metropolitan outlet opened, the exclusively online brisbanetimes.com.au, published by Fairfax Media. Currently there are 52 daily English-language newspapers (two national, 13 metropolitan, 36 regional and one suburban). Additionally there are eleven metropolitan Sunday newspapers.
The number of regional daily titles has remained constant at 36 over that period, although some of what were formerly independent publishing companies have become part of the larger entities, with Fairfax Media (largely through Rural Press) being the major buyer. This trend has continued and there are now only two family-controlled regional dailies, those in Shepparton and Mildura. The remainder are owned by News, Fairfax and APN News and Media (with West Australian Newspapers controlling one other).
News Limited acquired the largely Sydney-based FPC Courier Newspapers and, thus, acquired a dozen or so additional titles. Otherwise there have not been significant changes in the Suburban/Community newspapers (180 titles). The Country Press category newspapers (about 240 titles) and the Regional Community category newspapers (around 160 titles) also remain steady, although some of the titles were acquired by the larger publishers as a part of the deals that saw regional dailies change hands in Albury, Wagga Wagga and Mount Isa. Most of the country and regional community newspapers have relatively small circulations but stress local news content. Many bush radio stations continue to rely on them for local news content. As previously reported, some of these suburban/community newspapers contain comprehensive local news and information and have substantial circulation (e.g., The St George & Sutherland Shire Leader with 135,000), while others vary from being little more than advertising vehicles to papers with substantial news content.
In addition to the Anglophone press, there are more than a hundred non-English language newspapers, nine of them dailies (four of which are in Chinese languages and the others in Greek, Italian, Korean, Serbian and Vietnamese).
The magazine market has hundreds of titles, the dominant proprietors being ACP Magazines (eleven of the top circulation 20), Pacific Magazines (four of the top 20) and Federal Publishing (two of the top 20), recently acquired by News Limited. Very few are news magazines, with only four significant titles in this area.
The number of regional daily titles has remained constant at 36 over that period, although some of what were formerly independent publishing companies have become part of the larger entities, with Fairfax Media (largely through Rural Press) being the major buyer. This trend has continued and there are now only two family-controlled regional dailies, those in Shepparton and Mildura. The remainder are owned by News, Fairfax and APN News and Media (with West Australian Newspapers controlling one other).
News Limited acquired the largely Sydney-based FPC Courier Newspapers and, thus, acquired a dozen or so additional titles. Otherwise there have not been significant changes in the Suburban/Community newspapers (180 titles). The Country Press category newspapers (about 240 titles) and the Regional Community category newspapers (around 160 titles) also remain steady, although some of the titles were acquired by the larger publishers as a part of the deals that saw regional dailies change hands in Albury, Wagga Wagga and Mount Isa. Most of the country and regional community newspapers have relatively small circulations but stress local news content. Many bush radio stations continue to rely on them for local news content. As previously reported, some of these suburban/community newspapers contain comprehensive local news and information and have substantial circulation (e.g., The St George & Sutherland Shire Leader with 135,000), while others vary from being little more than advertising vehicles to papers with substantial news content.
In addition to the Anglophone press, there are more than a hundred non-English language newspapers, nine of them dailies (four of which are in Chinese languages and the others in Greek, Italian, Korean, Serbian and Vietnamese).
The magazine market has hundreds of titles, the dominant proprietors being ACP Magazines (eleven of the top circulation 20), Pacific Magazines (four of the top 20) and Federal Publishing (two of the top 20), recently acquired by News Limited. Very few are news magazines, with only four significant titles in this area.
This author consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
