Desmond will be hoping to repeat the ongoing success story of the Daily Star, which has seen its sales rise 9.38% to 736,088 month on month in the most recent set of ABCs.
The Daily Star Sunday will be hoping to target both the readers of the daily title, as well as those who traditionally never buy a Sunday newspaper.
A £2.5m television advertising campaign backing the launch of the paper broke last night on ITV and satellite stations. The ads were created in-house and carry the strapline "Something big is coming".
Unlike the rest of the Sunday tabloid market, the Daily Star Sunday is a seven-day operation. The paper is under the overall control of the Daily Star editor, and now editor in chief, Peter Hill. The Sunday edition is being edited by Hugh Whittow and written by as many as 30 mostly part-time staff.
With a knock-down 35p cover price, the launch is certain to spark a fresh tabloid price war. Rival tabloids the News of the World at News International and the Sunday Mirror and The People at Trinity Mirror have yet to decide whether they will respond by cutting their own prices. All three of the rivals sell for 65p.
News of the pricing strategy is expected to have Trinity Mirror finance chiefs worried. The company blinked first in the recent cover-price war between the Daily Mirror and The Sun.
In preparing for the launch of the Express Newspapers-owned title, Trinity Mirror has just spent £2m on a relaunch of The People.
However, industry watchers believe the News of the World will be worst hit by the new launch.
What is clear is that Desmond can no more afford a price war than anyone else in the market. The Daily Star is still selling for 10p in the Carlton region, as it has been since the price war first broke out between The Sun and the Mirror.
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