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The launch of a string of free Metro titles has boosted the regional press market which has recorded a 2.73% year-on-year rise in total circulation, according to Audit Bureau Circulation figures for July-December 2000.

A rise in circulation for free mornings of more than 100% has reflected the new ventures by newspaper groups outside the traditional channels.

Evening titles performed badly, with circulation growth slipping 3.1% overall, compared to a drop of 2.4% for the previous year.

Roy Burton, circulation director for the Coventry Evening Telegraph, which lost the most readers over the period, blamed the introduction of Coventry’s free Metro title, launched in December, for the 9.8% drop in sales.

New launches have occurred in several UK cities and are already making strong inroads into the markets of the traditional paid-for titles.

Other badly hit titles included the Bristol Evening Post and The Belfast Telegraph.

Year-on-year comparisons for all sectors show that Evenings and Sundays have actually improved their market performance, up 1.6% and 0.03% respectively, although these figures include new titles, unlike those showing a fall in circulation growth, which make only like-for-like comparisons.

Managing director at regional evening title Burton Mail, Jim Black, believes that concentrating on high local news content, reliable distribution and long-term circulation development will determine the future success stories in the market.

According to chief executive of Trinity Mirror’s regional sales arm, Mike McCormack, it is far from bad news for the sector. He said: “I think it’s vital to move away from the fixation with circulation figures as this doesn’t produce an accurate comparison with other forms of media.

“We must start to concentrate on the number of people reading regional newspapers, rather than the number of copies sold – readership of regional press is as high as it’s ever been.”

According to The Newspaper Society, there are now over half-a-million more readers of regional newspapers than at this time last year and more than 90% of regional titles are now online.

Sales of paid-for mornings have suffered throughout the period, falling 2.1% overall, slightly up on last year’s 3.7% decline. The highest performances came from The Scotsman (+32.58%), the Irish News (+3.4%) and the Paisley Daily Express (+2.55%).

The worst casualty overall in the morning sector was Bristol’s Western Daily Press, owned by Briston United Press, which dropped 10.9% to 50,576.

The London Metro has held on to its clear lead in the free regional mornings sector with a circulation of 369,861, more than double the readership of the second placed performer, News North West (142,144).

“In terms of the mornings, publishers will have to watch out for the Metro titles which are now incredibly strong,” added Mike Carter, business director at MindShare.

“It is fair to say that, in cities where new Metro launches have taken place, people need to be mindful of the strength of the titles.”

Of the weeklies, 52% of titles are showing circulation growth, down only slightly on last year’s 59%.

However, it is the first time that aggregate circulation for the sector has fallen in eight audit periods, the biggest drop coming from the Chester Chronicle, which was down 9.8% to 39,867.

The West Briton Series has the highest circulation (50,785), 100% of which were actively purchased. Manchester Metro News, which distributes 302,874 copies, is the highest-ranking free weekly newspaper.

Deputy editor at Manchester Metro News, Richard Butt, said: “Our title complements the Manchester Evening News.

“Our success as a free weekly is due to concentrating on having several big human interest stories in each title rather than filling the paper with lots of nitty gritty.”

According to The Newspaper Society, the results for this period should be placed within the context of overall fragmentation of the media market.

Carter agrees: “The majority of regional titles are down during this period but I think that this simply reflects a fragmentation of the media scene in general.

“I don’t think it’s due to a drop in production or advertising quality.

“The national press is actually having a harder time of it than regional press which, I believe, is holding its own.”

Sunday titles recorded a 5.2% decrease in overall circulation in the period 99/00, although it was an improvement on the 98/99 figures.

Marketing director at The Newspaper Society, Chris Stanley, said: “Free delivery is on the up, paid-for sale is relatively stable and our internet products are now attracting almost 80 million page impressions each month.”

Chief executive of ABC, Chris Boyd, added: “In a market where consumers throughout the UK have an ever-growing choice of media and even greater pressures on their leisure time, it is very heartening to see this performance from the regional press.

“The strong performance from the weeklies, in particular, clearly demonstrates that the newspapers are satisfying a growing need for local news, comment and features.”

General opinion appears united in the fact that, of the main publishers, such as Trinity, Newsquest and Northcliffe, survival in the increasingly fragmented market will depend on their offering a fully integrated media solution in order to address falling circulation figures.

According to Trinity’s McCormack: “Advertisers know that if they need a media bank to direct the consumer to their product, they need to go local.”