MEDIA & MARKETING:NINE YEARS after its launch, the Dublinermagazine is suddenly enjoying a circulation that founding publisher Trevor White could only have dreamed of. From last Thursday, the Dublineris being given away free every week with the Evening Herald.
Under White's guidance, the Dublinerwas an eclectic, monthly publication with a small middle-class readership. The title achieved global notoriety when it had a pop at Tiger Woods's wife, a libel that cost the publication dearly. White sold the title two years ago to the stable that includes VIP magazine, and now it has disappeared as a stand-alone from the news stands.
The thinking at the Heraldis that the inclusion of the 64-page Dubliner will boost the daily's appeal to younger, upmarket readers. To make way for the Dubliner, the Herald's in-house Dublin guide publication HQ Magazinehas been scrapped.
A decade ago the Herald's daily circulation was more than 100,000, but it is now 70,000. That's still a substantial number, and daily readership is estimated at 289,000 people.
Forty per cent of readers are over 45, and two-thirds of the readership is in the C2DE (lower income/education) demographic. That’s fine for advertisers of cut-price beds, but advertising agencies prefer media with a younger and more affluent profile.
David Hayes, managing director of advertising agency MEC Global, is sceptical about the synergy. "It is a little bit like wrapping the Sunday Business Postin the News of The World. The Dublinerwas once a good magazine, and obviously the current climate is very tough. However, it does look a bit like two patients on life support getting into bed together and hoping to survive."
Evening Heraldeditor Stephen Rae says that's unfair, and insists his paper is gaining younger readers all the time. "The Heraldhas been one of the most resilient titles in the market, even though a lot of people like to write it off. Dublinis one of the toughest newspaper environments there is. You have a lot of the British tabloids dumping their copies into this market. Then you have our own tabloids and broadsheets, and Metro Herald."
In fact, Metro Herald, which is 50 per cent owned by Evening Heraldpublisher Independent News & Media and has a circulation of 64,000, is the Herald's main competitor for brand press advertising in the capital.
Dave Harland, chief executive of media buyer OMD, points to "the irony of the Evening Heraldrunning strip ads in the Metro Herald, the more contemporary new kid on the block, announcing its collaboration with the Dubliner".
Harland’s view is that the Herald’s falling circulation and readership is “indicative of a product whose role and relevance has been tested, and whose place in Dublin’s highly competitive multimedia commuter belt has to be more clearly defined”. But he commends the paper’s editorial and marketing approach.
"The Evening Herald's closer alliance with Dublin GAA and Leinster Rugby and the addition of the Dublinerwill not only enhance its sense of modernity but will also greatly improve perceived value," says Harland
According to Garret Monahan, head press buyer in advert agency Carat, the Heraldis always considered in an advert schedule targeting Dublin readers. "But if the advertiser is targeting a younger ABC1 reader, then I will choose Metro Heraldover the Evening Herald," he says.
Rae concedes that his paper took a bit of a hit when Metroand Herald AMfirst came out, because between them they were printing 140,000 copies a day. "But then things levelled out. I don't see Metro Heraldas a threat any more . . . Metro Heraldis more about wire news with a Dublin edge, while the Evening Heralddelivers quality metropolitan journalism covering the Dublin courts, councils, sport and entertainment."
Rae oversees a newsroom of 50 journalists and three editions a day, with the first going to print at 9.15am. Subediting is outsourced to a company in France and the economics of printing a full colour magazine for distribution in the Herald's full print-run is made possible by doing the job at INM's print plant in Newry.
