Further to my posting on the gloomy set of September circulation figures for national newspapers, I am now able to cast some light on the marketing side. I mentioned that News International's titles were doing better than their rivals, but I was unable to obtain information about comparative marketing spends by the groups.
Well, I still haven't been able to do that with any accuracy. However, in making the attempt, I did turn up some facts that are certainly worth noting.
Newspapers' television marketing spend in September was way down on what it was in the same month in 2007. The daily titles enjoyed boosts from only eight major TV promotions compared to 13 last year, while the Sundays had to make do with 13 TV promotions compared to 19 the year before. Several papers had no promotional support of any kind.
Owners have always been sceptical about the enormous sums required for marketing, especially the cost of TV advertising. The cost of securing sales spikes is often - very often - disproportionate to the outlay.
But the gradual retreat by some groups from TV to support promotions is also counter-productive. There is, after all, little point in a paper giving away DVDs and CDs unless people outside the title's core audience know about them.
And all this before the real effects of the global financial crisis kick in. Though people are anxious to know what is happening to the banks, and their own money, there is little sign of them buying more newsprint. Television and the net appears to be the media of first choice.
