Newspapers are still a dominant medium in the North and South of Ireland. Some titles, such as The Irish Times and The Belfast Telegraph, are even reporting small increases in cover sales, while their UK counterparts are almost universally suffering decline. In some markets, investment in the product and a move to compact has improved circulations.
Despite all the positives, though, many in the agency world are realistic about the long-term challenges faced by the sector.
Gary Power, chief executive of Dublin's Saor Communications, says newspapers are facing "huge competitive pressure" from new media entrants, such as niche TV stations, new free and paid-for local titles and an increasing range of local and regional commercial radio.
Power says indigenous newspaper marketers have looked to the UK for solutions. This has led to a plethora of new tactics - from compact editions to bolt-on products. Newspapers have also begun to advertise seriously on TV. He adds: "The winners will be titles that can retain and increase their relevance among core audiences."
So here we bring you a run down of the activity at some of Ireland's top-circulating titles as they battle for survival, or even growth.
ASSOCIATED NEWSPAPERS IN IRELAND
URL: None
Key titles & circulation: Ireland on Sunday -8.5% (127,399)*. Sold in RoI only.
Irish Daily Mail n/a (80,000 weekdays, 130,000 Sat). Sold in RoI only.
Partnerships: Partner with The Irish Times in Metro International, Dublin
John Thompson, chief executive at Associated Newspapers Ireland, has overseen considerable expansion. Ireland on Sunday sells between 125,000 and 130,000 copies, while the Irish Daily Mail is performing well - up to 80,000 copies on weekdays and about 130,000 on Saturdays, helped by the insertion of Hello! magazine. Both publications target younger female readers and Thompson is bullish about the future. "We are confident of growth in the newspaper market and we don't have a problem with print advertising - online hasn't affected us at all," he says.
Plenty of giveaways and promotions characterise both publications, while the Irish Daily Mail is currently selling at a reduced price of 50% on weekdays.
The paper has also just started taking local advertising - a rate card is now circulating the Dublin agencies and rates are lower than for many of its key rivals. Previously it had only featured advertising from the UK edition.
Paul Drury, executive editor of the Irish Daily Mail, adds: "The launch has more than exceeded our expectations and we're confident that we will hold a significant portion of our sales when we go to full cover price".
He adds they've had no negative feedback to editorial changes. "People appreciate the big read," he says.
INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA NORTHERN IRELAND
URLs: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk; www.loadzajobs.co.uk
Key titles & circulation: Belfast Telegraph +0.1% (96,435, Mon-Fri and 93,786 Sat)*. Sold in NI, border counties and Dublin. Sunday Life -7.6% (77,688)*. Sold in NI, border counties and Dublin
During 2005, The Belfast Telegraph took 63% of all national advertising and 44% of local agency advertising in local dailies in Northern Ireland.
The ABC1 profile of the newspaper continues to grow and it now has the highest such profile of any local daily title in Northern Ireland, as well as the highest readership and circulation. Simon Mann, commercial director of Independent News & Media Northern Ireland, says these key titles are continuing to develop content and new platforms in order to stay on top.
A multi-million investment in new press capacity has increased pagination and improved colour quality.
Last year, The Belfast Telegraph launched a compact morning edition, while the Sunday Life was extensively redesigned.
It competes with another IN&M title, the Northern Ireland edition of Sunday World, which sells about 66,000 copies in Northern Ireland.
Online offerings are growing, including The Belfast Telegraph website, which has some of the highest traffic in Northern Ireland.
Overall, says Mann, "the key focus has been on innovation and development of the titles to expand availability to readers and, through this, to develop the audience available to advertisers".
INDEPENDENT NEWS & MEDIA IRELAND
URL: www.independent.ie
www.loadza.com
Key titles & circulations: Irish Independent n/a (163,598)*. Sold throughout Ireland. Sunday Independent -1.5% (286,613)*. Sold throughout Ireland. Evening Herald -8.9% (85,506)*. Mainly sold in greater Dublin area
Media Partnerships: 50/50 partnership with Express Newspapers for Irish Daily Star
Gavin O'Reilly, chief operating officer for Independent News & Media and chairman of National Newspapers of Ireland, says increased competition is producing better publishing results for IN&M.
Vincent Crowley, chief executive at IN&M Ireland, adds: "Our products are evolving. The challenge is continuing to be innovative to meet changing reader demands."
IN&M is currently locked in a Dublin morning-freesheet war between its own Herald AM and the Metro and Crowley claims that, while the Irish Daily Mail has created a fair bit of noise, it hasn't had an impact on their titles. Crowley adds: "The real test for the Mail is when it goes to its full cover price."
But Crowley admits the going is tough for IN&M's Evening Herald. "The evening market is increasingly challenging, but we launched a big initiative with our street-vendor network. We've also created product developments, like the Polski Herald on Fridays - aimed at the 100,000 members of the Polish community in Ireland."
While print advertising remains strong, with little migration to online seen so far, the key is constant evolution.
Over at the Irish Daily Star, Paul Cooke, managing director, says it is selling 105,000 daily, with the Sunday version now selling about 65,000 copies.
JOHNSTON PRESS
URL: nine websites for its local newspapers in Irish Republic, including www.derryjournal.com
Key titles & circulations: Limerick Leader Weekend Series -3.4% (23,868)* and the Kilkenny People +1.4% (18,160)*
Barry Brennan, divisional managing director, Irish Republic, Johnston Press, says the company's emphasis is on high-quality newspapers. It has also been active in launching into the freesheet market, with examples including Weekender.
Brennan says that newspaper advertising continues to grow and that there is no strong evidence of migration to online.
Another strong presence from the UK in Ireland's local newspaper market is Dunfermline Press from Scotland (Celtic Media). Other strong players include Thomas Crosbie Holdings and the Northern Ireland-based Northern Alpha group.
One of the few remaining family-owned local newspapers in Ireland is the Munster Express in Waterford, which has recently commissioned an extension of printing capacity - bringing colour pagination from 18 to 44 pages and increasing overall weekly pagination to 64 pages.
In Northern Ireland, Johnston Press, through the Derry Journal, Morton Newspapers and the Newsletter, has a strong presence. In Derry, for instance, it now controls more than 90% of the market, with the Derry Journal and the Londonderry Sentinel.
Elsewhere, Colm McCarroll, managing director of the locally owned Derry News, says the title has managed to push weekly sales up to just over 11,000.
"The Derry News had the biggest percentage increase of any group in the British Isles over the past year, according to ABC figures," boasts McCarroll.
MGN
URL: launching an Irish site later this year.
Key titles & circulations: Daily Mirror n/a (81,130). Sunday Mirror n/a (47,742, RoI and 37,382 in NI). The People n/a (45,516, RoI and 23,824 in NI). All sold throughout Ireland
John Kierans, group editor of the Daily Mirror in Dublin, says that the daily is performing strongly in terms of readership and attracting local advertisers.
Advertising agency sources say that the average age of a Mirror reader in Ireland is 28 to 29, compared to 51 in Britain.
Kierans says that the Mirror is very much orientated towards younger readers and that this is why the title has been so successful over the water.
"We're also strong on consumer issues," Kierans adds.
He also says that, in both parts of Ireland, they're seeing continued strong advertising revenues. But Kierans denies that the Dublin morning freesheets are having any impact on the Daily Mirror's sales.
However, Kierans reckons the Irish Daily Mail is going to have a big impact on the Irish newspaper market.
"At the moment, it's driven by cover price and promotions. But in the longer term, we're all in for a rocky ride. The Mail isn't going to go away," he concludes.
NEWS INTERNATIONAL
URL: UK websites for The Times, Sunday Times and News of the World.
Key titles & circulation: Irish Sun n/a (113,793 in RoI and 76,444 in NI). News of the World n/a (167,707 RoI and 88,796 NI) Sunday Times Irish edition n/a (112,436 RoI and 30,620 in NI)**
Ken Hutton, commercial director at News International Dublin, says that the publisher continues to invest in editorial product development and that this, together with targeted marketing, is driving the growth of its titles in Ireland.
Hutton also notes that the Irish Sun, the News of the World and The Sunday Times have the youngest profiles within their markets in Ireland.
"The Sunday Times delivers the youngest under-45 age profile (63%) of any title in the broadsheet market," he claims.
Promotions are continually used to reward existing readers and attract new ones. Recent examples have included game cards and instant redeem CD and DVD collections in the Irish Sun and the Irish News of the World. Regular promotional competitions are run in The Sunday Times, while all the titles are heavily involved in the promotional aspects of the movie and music industries. The Times daily sells just over 5,000 copies in the Republic (nearly 7,500 in Northern Ireland) and has not been localised like The Sunday Times. Its figures compare to about 4,000 in the Republic for the Financial Times. These two titles are also competing with the Wall Street Journal Europe and the International Herald Tribune - both now printed in Ireland.
Hutton says that his four titles continue to show strong advertising growth in Ireland - far above the 16% increase in press advertising for the indigenous titles in National Newspapers of Ireland.
THE IRISH TIMES
URL: www.ireland.com; www.nicemove.ie
Key titles & circulation: The Irish Times -0.1% (117,370)*. Sold throughout Ireland and distributed in the UK, Spain, Brussels and the US. The paper is owned by a trust.
Media partnership: with Metro International and Associated Newspapers in Dublin Metro
Liam Holland, group advertisement director at the Irish Times, says the title is constantly delivering a quality audience by ongoing investment in editorial content and product development. It has its own state-of-the-art printing centre in Dublin.
Holland says: "The changes have been positive for us. We grew readership in the latest JNRS survey by 13,000." The paper runs a number of regular initiatives that are targeted at younger readers - from primary school level upwards - including specially focused supplements. The Ticket entertainment and listings magazine on Fridays also targets younger consumers.
The paper does not covermount CDs or DVDs, but does reward readers with special offers and competitions.
Ireland.com is the most popular newspaper website in the country, with more than 13 million page impressions and 530,000 unique users a month. Nicemove.ie is a younger brand that is developing with the benefit of investment focused on classifieds.
Holland says that advertising sectors such as motors, recruitment and property continue to perform well, along with classifieds.
"The paper is also enjoying good growth in sectors such as finance, retail and travel, and this is helped by new sections that we are developing, such as the Tuesday health supplement," he adds.
The magazines and supplements are also performing well and Holland says that there are no indicators yet that this situation is going to change this year.
THOMAS CROSBIE HOLDINGS
URL: www.thepost.ie
Key titles & Circulation: Sunday Business Post -0.6% (51,500)*. Sold throughout Ireland
Fiachra O'Riordan, chief executive of the Sunday Business Post, says the Sunday market is as competitive as ever, with some serious falls in circulation reported in the most recent ABCs. The Sunday Tribune, for example, was down 10%. In contrast to these trends, the Sunday Business Post was up 5.9% year on year, he notes, adding that the paper's key strengths are its breaking business news and analysis, incisive comment and comprehensive property supplement.
"The paper's ABC1 profile of 74% ensures little wastage in targeting terms," O'Riordan claims.
The paper recently moved its printing from the Belfast Telegraph to the new, high-speed print centre in Cork which is handling outsourced print for all Thomas Crosbie-owned publications since the start of this year.
Apart from the Sunday Business Post, the Crosbie company also owns the Irish Examiner, a national daily with circulation of near 60,000 and the Evening Echo, based in Cork.
Crosbie's other main newspaper interests include the Irish Post in London and a string of regional newspapers throughout Ireland. Its most recent acquisition was the Echo group of local newspapers based in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, which it bought for EUR20m.
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