CIA and Sunday Business in circulation row

Media buying group CIA is in dispute with the new national newspaper Sunday Business over its likely circulation.

A CIA MediaLab survey found that eight per cent of broadsheet newspaper readers would be very likely to read a Sunday newspaper devoted only to business. A further nine per cent said they might do.

CIA believes this will not be enough to sustain Sunday Business, brainchild of former BusinessAge publisher Tom Rubython, which has sales targets of 150,000 a week.

“Rubython has said that readers will buy his title as well as their normal read,” says Anthony Jones head of CIA MediaLab. “But with people on average already reading one and a half Sunday titles it is likely to be a struggle. To reach its weekly target it must provide information not found in other business sections.”

However, Sunday Business claims the CIA analysis is flawed and the research means eight per cent of Sunday broadsheet readers is the equivalent of 656,000 readers for the title. The Sunday broadsheet market averages three readers per copy which could mean Sunday Business selling about 220,000 copies a week.

“Frankly we’re being conservative with our figures,” says Rubython. “But it is clear that Media- Lab supports our forecasts.”

Other agency press buyers remain unconvinced about the appeal of a business-only title on a Sunday. “There is no space in the market,” says Neil Jones, board director at TMD Carat. “I’ll be amazed if it lasts six months.”