From the moment last Friday that Rupert Murdoch stood up at News International’s offices in Wapping and announced a launch of a new Sunday paper ‘very soon’, there has been speculation about what the new product would look like and when it would launch. Here we try to separate the fact from the rumour, and give our view on the biggest new launch in the newspaper market in decades.
On Monday the Sun, in typically bombastic style (and under a banner of ‘another Sun exclusive’ – another blow struck for investigative reporting) declared that ‘very soon’ meant this weekend. In advance of the launch, there are a few facts and a lot of speculation doing the rounds.
The title will simply be called the Sun, with an identical masthead to the daily, rather than being a separate Sunday title. It will not have its own editor, but will share staff with the daily with the with the exception of some ‘Sunday only’ writers. The title is expected to be a more family-oriented product than its predecessor the News of the World, and as with the Saturday edition will not feature topless models on page 3.
The title is expected to focus on some of the other, less controversial elements that contributed to the success of the NotW, namely sport and TV, with more features and a commitment by the editorial team to ‘ continue with investigative reporting’. The paper will contain 28 pages of football news and 16 pages of other sports.
In order to broaden the appeal of the paper to a more female audience The Sun have signed up Sven Goran Eriksson’s former girlfriend and 'Strictly Come Dancing' star Nancy Dell'Olio to write a weekly style column and TV chef James Martin to provide a recipe and cookery section.
The first edition will have a print run of c3m, and according to Rupert Murdoch’s twitter feed has ‘sold out’ of advertising space. Launch price is rumoured to be 50p, which may trigger a price war with other publishers.
Other publishers have already been bullish in response, even before pricing strategies are revealed. Richard Desmond has ramped up marketing spend to support the Sunday Express and Daily Star Sunday, albeit mainly on the (Northern & Shell owned) Channel 5. The Express is advertising that the Sunday Express is giving away a free gardening mat as well as its "action-packed" sports pullout and S magazine.
The Sunday Mirror is also taking to TV, whilst the main paper has carried editorial highlighting that there will be "four great sections in your great Sunday Mirror" which includes the main paper, the Carling Cup special sport pullout, a celebrity magazine and homes and holidays supplement.
The Mail on Sunday, which was the initial winner in the race to pick up the NotW readers has started running a TV campaign and is running ads about Mail on Sunday's "stunning free magazines" (Live, You and bi-annual fashion supplement You Inspire) which it says are "for him …and for her".
It is estimated that rivals could spend as much as £7m defending themselves from the Sun onslaught, which includes TV, radio and outdoor advertising.
We expect the Sun to sell strongly this weekend, and as the News of the World has proved in the past, there is space in the Sunday newspaper market to accommodate it. The NotW always had a surprisingly large element of upmarket adults reading, as it was often taken as a ‘sports supplement’ to broadsheet titles like the Sunday Times. Whilst there will be an element of the audience that will not buy in protest at News International’s role in the phone hacking scandals, we don’t expect this to affect sales to any great effect. Advertisers are back on board, and we expect the Sun to shine strongly on Sundays.
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