Quality British newspapers enjoying boom

Press, 18 June 1980, Page 16

Quality British newspapers enjoying boom

By

KEN COATES

in London

Britain’s quality newspapers are enjoying ah unexpected boost in sales in spite of uncertainties over the effect of the reappearance of “The Times” and “Sunday Times” almost six months ago. Newspapers which gained sales during the year of suspension of Times Newspapers were fully prepared to lose most of the gain. But they have all held on to improved figures and “The Times” and “Sunday Times” have already surpassed their pre-suspension circulations. . ■ .■

The combined circulation of the “Guardian,” the “Daily Telegraph,” the “Financial Times,” and “The Times” in April was 2,327,802, a 7.4 per cent increase on the combined figure for the first three newspapers just before “The Times” returned. The increase for the Sunday newspapers is dramatic. In February, the last month for which the Audit Bureau of Circulations has complete figures, the “Observer,” the “Sunday Telegraph,” and “The Sunday Times” reached a combined total of 3,436,174, a 31.3 per cent increase on what

the first two sold jointly last October.

There was a 5p increase in the price of “The Times” in March (it is now 20p) and other newspapers are likely to put up their prices. But there is a growing feeling in the industry that price rises no longer cause such significant drops in sales as they did a few years ago. Meanwhile, industrial troubles in the printing industry continue to dog Fleet Street.

Times Newspapers had .hoped that its £4O million shut-down would have got rid of over-manning and inter-unibn competition, enabling the management to streamline work and take advantage. of new computer technology. But it has not worked out like that. The “Sunday Times” still has labour troubles, with restrictions on the number of pages and frequency of editions and circulation losses each week".'

The new technology, which was to have been introduced first at the “Times Literary Supplement” last February and gradually spread to the other newspapers in the group, is still in its packing cases.