‘A new daily voice for Denbighshire’. So proclaimed the tag line on the Ruthin & Denbigh Evening Leader, launched yesterday.
Yes, we have another newspaper, one on the stands five nights a week, no less. This is important, for local media don’t just report on our lives, they help shape them.
In a bold move during recessionary times, North Wales Newspapers bids to increase its market share by exploiting an otherwise under-developed market in Rhuthun and Dinbych, plus Llanelwy/St Asaph & Corwen. Hitherto, you had to endure the Wrexham Evening Leader in Rhuthun (and the Flintshire Evening Leader in Dinbych).
What does the new paper offer? Last night’s launch edition saw a front page lead on the crumbling icon that was the North Wales Hospital, Dinbych, plus two articles on it within. The paper reported that the bulldozers could be poised over the former hospital in just four weeks. A positive start for the paper, something that normally would wait till Thursday’s Denbighshire Free Press lead. But here, it got ahead of sistser Free Press’ weekly rival, the Denbighshire Visitor.
There followed a report on the distress apparently caused (to passengers & no doubt the animal) by police as they used a taser to stun a stray sheep on the A55 near Bodelwyddan. The same story and its accompanying background on tasers appeared in Friday’s Wrexham Evening Leader.
Comparing the three local Evening Leader editions—Wrexham, Flintshire and Ruthin & Denbigh—the first three pages were different. Thereafter, the contents mirrored each other, aside from a different full size advert on page 29 in the local edition. Flintshire's rearmost sports page was unique, following Bagillt’s Ricky Walden’s victory of snooker world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Which means, about 90 per cent of the paper appeals to its hitherto key audiences in the LL11-14 and CH4-8 postcode areas. May be that will evolve. But there was strong UK-wide news & sports coverage, as you'd expect on a Monday from the Evening Leader.
Let’s not forget that technology means the cost of producing this new edition is marginal to North Wales Newspapers. It’s reported to use its existing Free Press editorial staff. It’s distribution costs remain unaltered, as it already delivers the Leader here in some form. And if as a result it can then sell a couple of thousand or even just a thousand extra copies each evening, it’s quids in, for minimal outlay. That’s over £115,000 additional income over 253 weekdays, if sales pick up to such a level. The local edition might just be enough to boost sales for a paper once peripheral to the Vale.
But will it? Will this be enough to persuade local people to pay 45p a night? Is there that strong a market? The Free Press prints at 7,200 copies each week and NWN acknowledges that’s a good run. What the Ruthin & Denbigh Leader might do is prevent a loss of interest in those who locally tend to buy the Wrexham or Flintshire editions. For, although the Evening Leader is falling less quickly than some evening titles (at just over 21,000 copies each night), the prognosis throughout Britain remains poor. So, the Ruthin & Denbigh edition is also about market resilience as well as market share.
And the Rhuthun and Dinbych edition further strengthens NWN’s position in the light of the new aforesaid Denbighshire Visitor. But let’s hope that the new Evening Leader doesn’t weaken the content in the Free Press too much. The Free Press will for many remain the most popular voice for local news, especially where there’s been no culture of an evening title before. But any increase in local news choice has to be of benefit.
Ruthin and Denbigh Evening Leader: “What now for crumbling hospital?” (Dinbych)
Flintshire Evening Leader: “Yob gang attack family home” (Saltney)
Wrexham Evening Leader: “Wrexham man found dead in canal”
Yes, we have another newspaper, one on the stands five nights a week, no less. This is important, for local media don’t just report on our lives, they help shape them.
In a bold move during recessionary times, North Wales Newspapers bids to increase its market share by exploiting an otherwise under-developed market in Rhuthun and Dinbych, plus Llanelwy/St Asaph & Corwen. Hitherto, you had to endure the Wrexham Evening Leader in Rhuthun (and the Flintshire Evening Leader in Dinbych).
What does the new paper offer? Last night’s launch edition saw a front page lead on the crumbling icon that was the North Wales Hospital, Dinbych, plus two articles on it within. The paper reported that the bulldozers could be poised over the former hospital in just four weeks. A positive start for the paper, something that normally would wait till Thursday’s Denbighshire Free Press lead. But here, it got ahead of sistser Free Press’ weekly rival, the Denbighshire Visitor.There followed a report on the distress apparently caused (to passengers & no doubt the animal) by police as they used a taser to stun a stray sheep on the A55 near Bodelwyddan. The same story and its accompanying background on tasers appeared in Friday’s Wrexham Evening Leader.
Comparing the three local Evening Leader editions—Wrexham, Flintshire and Ruthin & Denbigh—the first three pages were different. Thereafter, the contents mirrored each other, aside from a different full size advert on page 29 in the local edition. Flintshire's rearmost sports page was unique, following Bagillt’s Ricky Walden’s victory of snooker world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Which means, about 90 per cent of the paper appeals to its hitherto key audiences in the LL11-14 and CH4-8 postcode areas. May be that will evolve. But there was strong UK-wide news & sports coverage, as you'd expect on a Monday from the Evening Leader.Let’s not forget that technology means the cost of producing this new edition is marginal to North Wales Newspapers. It’s reported to use its existing Free Press editorial staff. It’s distribution costs remain unaltered, as it already delivers the Leader here in some form. And if as a result it can then sell a couple of thousand or even just a thousand extra copies each evening, it’s quids in, for minimal outlay. That’s over £115,000 additional income over 253 weekdays, if sales pick up to such a level. The local edition might just be enough to boost sales for a paper once peripheral to the Vale.
But will it? Will this be enough to persuade local people to pay 45p a night? Is there that strong a market? The Free Press prints at 7,200 copies each week and NWN acknowledges that’s a good run. What the Ruthin & Denbigh Leader might do is prevent a loss of interest in those who locally tend to buy the Wrexham or Flintshire editions. For, although the Evening Leader is falling less quickly than some evening titles (at just over 21,000 copies each night), the prognosis throughout Britain remains poor. So, the Ruthin & Denbigh edition is also about market resilience as well as market share.
And the Rhuthun and Dinbych edition further strengthens NWN’s position in the light of the new aforesaid Denbighshire Visitor. But let’s hope that the new Evening Leader doesn’t weaken the content in the Free Press too much. The Free Press will for many remain the most popular voice for local news, especially where there’s been no culture of an evening title before. But any increase in local news choice has to be of benefit.
Ruthin and Denbigh Evening Leader: “What now for crumbling hospital?” (Dinbych)
Flintshire Evening Leader: “Yob gang attack family home” (Saltney)
Wrexham Evening Leader: “Wrexham man found dead in canal”
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