Down, but not out - that's the state of SA's print industry. It has not escaped the recession unscathed.
The Audit Bureau of Circulation's (ABC) October to December 2009 report shows weekend and weekly titles have been the hardest hit by the financial crisis, which has affected consumer spending.
Of SA's 303 newspapers, 172 are community titles, 26 are dailies, 12 are weeklies and there are 27 weekend titles. The rest are free newspapers.
About 78% of weekend titles lost circulation in the three months to December, according to the ABC's report. Overall, sales of these titles have dropped by 4%, with subscriptions falling by 8,5%.
Weekly newspapers were the worst hit during this period. Circulation of these titles declined by a whopping 14% - from the previous three-month period decline of 9%.
In a bid to retain revenue from advertisers, some titles have inflated their third-party bulk sales and contributions to the Print In Media Education initiative to keep their circulation figures attractive, the ABC report notes.
Though the organisation has tightened its regulations with respect to the two "loops", some publishers continue to abuse the little leeway they have left to inflate their circulation.
In his presentation of 2009 third-quarter circulation, Paul Wilkins, ABC board member and executive chairman of strategic media planning agency MediaCompete, warns that the leeway might in future be closed down. He says SA will follow the lead set by the ABC in the UK, which plans to do away with bulk circulation.
Wilkins says this will "encourage decision makers to use core' circulation as the basis for comparison".
Daily newspapers have fared slightly better than their weekly counterparts: circulation was down 2,3%, a slight improvement on the 2,6% decline measured between July and September 2009.
Most stable, not surprisingly, is the Daily Sun, which has consistently sold an average of 500 000 copies over the past three years.
The popular tabloid's circulation dropped slightly during the period under review, to 492 126 from the previous corresponding period's 497 370 - which may be in response to its increase in cover price to R2,30 from R2,00.
The tide is beginning to turn for consumer magazines, up 1,4% from the third quarter.
However, with an offering of 200 titles - including 35 new entrants last year - average magazine circulation has dropped a further 5%, from 2,6% year on year.
In the business and news category, Entrepreneur was the stellar performer, with circulation up a remarkable 87% to 30 245 copies, driven mainly by new subscriptions.
In the sport and hobby category, Compleat Golfer's circulation dropped 12%, while its counterpart, Golf Digest, saw a parallel increase of 12%.
With no end in sight to the haemorrhaging of circulation, the print media sector's woes are set to worsen as government is expected to finalise its plans to ban alcohol advertising next year. Alcohol advertising is one of the SA media's major revenue sources.
According to the Industry Association for Responsible Alcohol Use, liquor manufacturers in 2008 spent R720m on above-the-line advertising (television, radio, print and outdoor), making them among the country's top advertising spenders.
Ranking the Analysts 2009
