Media & Marketing Emmet OliverIreland on Sunday, the title that currently sells just over 125,000 copies, ceases to exist from this Sunday after nine years of publication. The paper will be known from now on as the Irish Mail on Sunday.
The newspaper will be almost full colour, will have expanded sports and television sections, new columnists such as Fiona Looney and will sell for €2. However, with sales of Ireland on Sunday hovering at their lowest point in many years, the new title will have room for improvement.
At present the British edition of the Mail on Sunday is available in Irish shops and sells on average about 15,000 copies. It will now be replaced by the Irish edition. A television campaign alerting readers of Ireland on Sunday to the name change starts today.
Ted Verity, editor in chief of Associated Newspapers Ireland, said the new paper would essentially be the same as Ireland on Sunday, but with additional elements. However, many advertising observers believe the name change is occurring solely because recent sales have been so disappointing.
Mr Verity denied this yesterday: "This change makes a lot of sense in terms of getting synergies between both Mail brands in Ireland. Sales of Ireland on Sunday have fallen because we simply stopped our promotional spending. We cut back our budget. So we did lose promotional sweepers."
He said these were people who bought the paper only for the free CDs and DVDs. He claimed the paper's core readership remained solid.
The current sale of the Daily Mail has also been commented on widely. Mr Verity said the paper had not been a disappointment and was now selling up to 68,193 copies.
"Even our most optimistic business plan had envisaged a sale of no more than 45,000," he said.
"We didn't know what to expect when we set out, but we have been very happy with the positive feedback we have been getting".
Despite this there has been talk in publishing and advertising circles about the level of losses accumulated by Associated with its investment in Daily Mail and Ireland on Sunday. It has certainly been a difficult few years.
Retained losses of €51.3 million have built up on the books of the company, with pretax losses of €9 million in the year to October 2nd, 2005.
These kinds of losses have prompted speculation that Associated might sell some assets or reduce its exposure to the Irish market. Mr Verity firmly denied this was planned. "The launch of the Irish Mail on Sunday is a re-affirmation of our commitment to the Irish market.These things take a long time. We should not be judged on such a short period. We are in this for the long term."
Paul Moran of Mediaworks, the media wing of agency Owens DDB, said he regarded the name change as a "strange move". He said Ireland on Sunday had become a well-known brand and it was puzzling to see it coming to an end. "I would be worried that this has been dictated from the UK."
He claimed several newspaper groups, including Thomas Crosbie Holdings, offered different papers during the week and on Sundays. "The judgment will be made on the basis of circulation and readership alone," he commented.
BSkyB boost
As debate rages about the true economic benefits of the Ryder Cup, there is little doubt of its benefit to BSkyB in Ireland.
The Irish company currently boasts 427,000 subscribers. It is understood the company is adding 1,000 subscribers on average a week, so the next set of figures is likely to be significantly ahead of that.
The company has exclusive rights to the Ryder Cup on Sky Sports 1, but RTÉ 1 has access on a delayed basis.
Sky is taking an unusual approach to broadcasting the event, making it available on high definition television, on mobile phones (courtesy of a deal with Vodafone) and via video streaming on PCs.
While the coverage will be broadcast throughout Europe, Sky has sought to emphasise the Irish context and Irish golfer Ronan Rafferty is among those providing expert analysis. Nick Faldo, the captain of the 2008 European Ryder Cup team is also among the Sky analysts.
The Ryder Cup is also having another unintended effect. The number of households going for digital TV, whether with Sky or NTL, is rising fast. Currently 45 per cent of homes are digital, but the next set of figures should see this rising to 50 per cent.
eoliver@irish-times
