Here's an example of the explosive online growth among regional newspapers. The Wolverhampton-based Express & Star managed to record 2.5m page views for its website during November, nearly double the count seven months ago at the time of the last official ABC electronic audit.
The site also saw a 45% increase in unique users, up to 236,534 from 162,820 in April. On average, there were 14,906 uniques a day, up 58% from 9,421. Its sister title, the Shropshire Star also saw improved readership on its website, with page impressions up by more than a quarter and unique users up by 5%.
The rises for both papers come on the back of more in-house video content, along with the introduction of a fantasy football game, greater use of picture galleries plus Google maps being added to illustrate key stories.
The Express & Star is Britain's best-selling regional title with a six-day average sale, at last audit, of 143,500 in the Black Country, West Midlands and Staffordshire. The Shrophsire Star, with 74,000 newsprint sales, covers both Shropshire and mid-Wales. The papers' owners, the Midland News Association have also pushed towards newsroom online-print integration.
Express & Star editor Adrian Faber says: "While our print readership remains the primary focus of our newsgathering operation, with newer content such as video, we are leading the way in the digital age, while protecting the prestige of our newspaper... The Express & Star brand is continuing to evolve by reaching new audiences across the world, outside of our solid core circulation area."
What these figures indicate is the way in which regional papers willing to invest in online products can ensure that their brands work across both platforms. Incidentally, both papers, unlike most other regional dailies, have not been losing significant print sales in the last couple of years.
