Poor sales imperil Observer ad rates
Press buyers are to get tough with The Observer on its advertising rates because of sliding circulation.
The newspaper’s January ABC figure of 449,529 was five per cent down on January 1995 and, more worryingly, down on its December 1995 figure by 0.8 per cent.
December is traditionally a newspaper’s worst month, but The Observer’s circulation appears to be heading towards the 437,508 it was at before its autumn relaunch and advertising campaign. The redesign and ad push took the title up to a peak of 484,236 in October.
The Observer’s advertising rates have held, thanks to the demand for colour advertising in the press and the title’s lack of colour sites. Mono sites have been much weaker. “The Observer ad team avoids commodity selling and is quite successful in concentrating on its brand values and unique positioning,” says Phil Danter, planning director at Mediastar.
“In the past, it wouldn’t sell rather than sell space cheap,” he adds. “But there is only so much brand-based selling you can take when the numbers are going down.”
The majority of newspaper/agency annual negotiations take place in the first quarter and The Observer’s January decline in sales is likely to force a softening of its rates.
The Daily Mail has continued to reap the benefits of the closure of Today, topping the psychologically important two million sales mark in January at 2,065,985 – up 14 per cent on January 1995. Changes at the Daily Express have yet to make an impact on its circulation which fell 2.4 per cent to 1,265,967, compared with January 1995 .
