The decline in newspapers: MM case studies

The New Day

1)What was the New Day trying to achieve?
The New Day was launched to tap into a new market, not to 'pinch' readers from other newspapers. The newspaper was targeted at both men and women. The newspaper tries to achieve a balanced view of following any political party line. It tries to go for a different type of newspaper look, The look and feel of the newspaper,with its turquoise masthead, was
often closer to a magazine in format,in theory fitting for a newspaper marketed to people who don’t like newspapers.younger. Furthermore, much of the content would seem to be aimed at twenty-somethings, or parents with young children. The majority of the articles seemed to target young women particularly, and the lack of space given to topics such as sport, coupled with the fact that sport was not positioned in its customary space on the back pages, meant that sports fans (often, but by no means exclusively, men) were not especially well catered for.

2)List the key statistics on the first page: how many people buy newspapers in the UK? How has this declined in the last year?

About six million people buy 

a newspaper in Britain every

day.

Over a million people have stopped buying a newspaper in the past two years

3) What audience were the New Day trying to attract?

New Day are trying to attract both males and females to read the newspaper. However The majority of the articles seemed to target young women particularly, and the lack of space given to topics such as sport. Furthermore, by reaching a different look to the newspaper, they are trying to attempt to attract audiences that don't normally like reading newspapers. 

4)  Why do you think the New Day failed so spectacularly? There are several possible reasons listed in the article but do develop your own opinion here as well.

During the first month of its publication 

it failed to reach its target of 200,000; 

after starting around 150,000, sales 

fell to 90,000. Furthermore, I think it failed due to 

Trinity Mirror sticking to its pricing strategy; the newspaper cost 25p for two weeks after launch

day and later rose to 50p (price movements announced in advance), allegedly causing a further fall to 40,000. Not only did this make the newspaper more expensive, but it put it alongside other newspapers such as; the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express, the Daily Mail and the Sun. 

Therefore, the New Daily due to may reasons, such as, not being to reach it's predicted target audience. Also, by raising the pricing of the newspaper lead to further downfall of the newspaper being successful. 

The Guardian

1) List the key statistics on page 10: How many unique digital browsers used the Guardian website in June 2016? What are The Guardian's latest print sales figures? How does this compare to the Telegraph? In terms of finances, how much did the Guardian lose in 2015? 

The Guardian is very successful online, 

but is struggling to maintain circulation 

figures for its print edition. The February statistics of 2016 state that the Guardian have 

nearly 9 million ‘average daily browsers.Putting it a long way behind the market leader MailOnline (14 million)but way ahead of the Telegraph (4million). Meanwhile, the print circulation

of the Guardian was only 161,000. It is the poor relation in print sales of quality national dailies, way behind the Daily Telegraph (472,000). Throughout the year of 2015 the Guardian reportedly lost around £70 million. 

2) What has been The Guardian's strategy for reversing this decline?

The Guardians strategy in reversing this decline was by having 20% cutbacks and shelving plans  for the Midland Goods Shed, a former train depot near GMG’s offices in King’s Cross. 

3) What global event did The Guardian's digital coverage win awards for?
The Guardian won an award for covering the Paris attacks in November 2015. They didn't just win the award due to their readers, but they also received the award from the Society of Editors. 

4)In your opinion, will the global website strategy be enough to save The Guardian?
In my opinion, i believe the global website strategy is an effective way to save the Guardian. It offers subscription services for those who want to download/read the print format online, and it offers a membership programme. Not only does it do this but it allows readers to access exclusive content and therefore is a positive way in order to keep the Guardian up and running.