It’s the era of the Kardashians, reality shows and instant gratification, right?
Sex, crime and gossip sell,right?
Well, in the UK, apparently these myths are debunked, and the numbers show it.
According to a piece in The Guardian —one of the quality newspapers reporting gains——“quality papers have something to feel modestly pleased about.”
Here are the numbers:
“The Sun-Mirror-Star tabloid category is down 5.87% year on year (with the Mirror taking a 12.89% hit). The Mail and Express are both down year on year (6.79% at the Express) and month on month. But every one of the quality dailies did better in March than in February: they’re up 2.48% overall, which also embraces a 0.22% total rise on March 2015.”
While I don’t have figures of my own to show here, I have anecdotal evidence from my clients around the world that it is getting a bit more difficult to sell the down market products with the giant headlines and emphasis on the celebrity beat.
My own interpretation is that, when it comes to print, particularly, and the lean back experience, smart readers (and there are plenty of those) are more interested in titles that offer analysis, interpretation and sound opinion. It will be interesting to see if the down market products register better numbers for their mobile editions, where readers may come to get instant gratification during a work break, or while on a commute.
This is a story to follow!
