Change of direction for Guardian Media?

The Guardian Media Group (GMG) is to undergo a change of strategy under plans drawn up by its new chief executive, Andrew Miller, reports today's Sunday Times print edition [not online].

The paper claims that GMG will be restructured by separating its newspapers - The Guardian and The Observer, and their websites - from the rest of its multi-media assets.

Those assets include its holdings in Trader Media Group and the b2b magazine publisher Emap - both jointly owned with private equity firm, Apax - plus radio stations and property websites.

The Sunday Times further claims that Miller is considering a sale or stock market listing of the lucrative Trader division. Its principal brand, the Auto Trader car magazine, could be worth more than £1.5bn with its associated websites.

This claim is a repetition of the story run by the Sunday Times on 17 October, Guardian mulls Trader sale [behind paywall].

It quoted a GMG spokesperson as saying: "Trader Media Group is a very strong business and well advanced in its digital transition, which makes it a valuable asset for GMG.

"No decisions have been made about either the timing or nature of our exit from this investment."

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Independent's i 'selling 125,000 copies'

Cut-price paper's circulation has dropped off since launch and staff are feeling the strain of producing it, according to sources.

The Independent's cut-price spin-off i is thought to have attracted average daily sales of about 125,000 copies, with circulation thought to have halved since launch.

Staff on the paper have been working "extreme and unsustainable hours" since the launch, according to the National Union of Journalists, which is planning to lodge an official complaint that the launch was "recklessly" planned and executed.

Alexander Lebedev's 20p weekday daily launched on 26 October with a flurry of media coverage helping to drive paid-for sales of about 180,000, according to several sources. However it is understood that sales have steadily fallen away, with numbers thought to have dropped to under 100,000.

It is early days for the paper and daily sales are likely to be volatile until circulation settles.

Industry sources estimate average daily sales at between 125,000 and 150,000, with the majority picking the bottom end of the range.

"The sales have dropped off and they are trying to work out if the numbers at the beginning or its current figure reflect its appeal," said one source. "I'm sure they will be optimising their distribution model, analysing which areas and which newsagents are generating more sales, and moving copies away from areas where they are generating fewer sales."

"Wholesalers give competitors the percentage of copies that are returned but they don't tell them how many copies we distribute in the first place," said Andrew Mullins, the managing director of the Independent, Independent on Sunday and the London Evening Standard. "As a result, any numbers being talked about are purely conjecture as they do not know how many copies we have printed and distributed each day. Our numbers will remain confidential for the foreseeable future, but we can say that sales of the Independent at £1 are unaffected."

The stress of the launch, both for staff and for the Independent's balance sheet, has become starkly clear, with pay negotiations now linked to the performance of the i.

At a meeting of the Independent's National Union of Journalists chapel earlier this month members passed a motion complaining about their workload since the launch.

"The chapel is concerned about the extreme and unsustainable hours expected of some staff to produce i, and fears the problem is likely to persist due to management's reckless planning and execution of the project," the NUJ said. "Members are clear that everyone fully supports the success of i. However, members explained that they are not prepared to put up with extreme hours becoming the norm."

The chapel voted almost unanimously in favour of holding a ballot for industrial action – 105 for with one against and two abstentions – over the failure to conclude a pay deal for 2010.

The launch of i has been backed with 100,000 giveaways, about 55,000 of those thought to be targeting the London market. Before launch the longer-term target was for a combined circulation for both i and the Independent of 400,000.

The Independent has a total net circulation of 182,000, with about 89,000 sold at full rate, meaning the i needs to get to well over 200,000 copies to achieve this goal. In addition the aspiration is for i to be successful enough to have a completely paid-for customer base.

Source: guardian.co.uk

The Independent may go free in London as new owners seek profitable business model

The new owners of The Independent may turn the title into a free in certain regions, according to Evgeny Lebedev, chairman of the paper's new board.
He said he was considering taking the paper free within the M25 region, which would boost distribution and make the paper a more compelling proposition to advertisers.
However, his father, Alexander, is quoted in today's Media Guardian as saying he has no plans "at the moment' to make The Independent free.
In his first interview since becoming chairman of Independent Print Ltd, the holding company set up to buy the Indy and its stablemate, the Independent on Sunday, Evgeny told the Financial Times that the papers could not continue to run as now.
"We will have to do something. The Independent can't stay in its present form because it will continue losing money," he said.
[As I report in today's Guardian, the Indy and Sindy have very low "proper" circulations, selling only 95,050 and 82,667 at their full cover price in the UK. Advertising revenues fell 33.1% in 2009 year-on-year, and the papers made an operating loss of £12.4m].
Lebedev spoke of the need to find a better business model as "the only way forward" and said the company was considering a range of strategies.
He also revealed that Simon Kelner, reappointed as the Indy's editor this month, would only hold the position for an "interim" period.
He said: "There's an understanding between Simon and us... it could be a few months or a few years. In the long term, both him and I, we have a joint understanding that there will be another editor."
Lebedev also reSourcevealed that some of the Indy's operations may be merged with those of the London Evening Standard. Though he mentioned "synergies" between the papers, a full-scale merger was unlikely.
"For example," he said, "with the World Cup coming on, rather than sending four reporters from one paper and four from another, you could send five altogether to cover the whole thing and then share the information. That's a possibility."
Both Lebedev père and fils believe the Standard's fortunes have been transformed since they turned it into a free in October last year.
Though they sacrificed £14m in annual circulation revenue, Lebedev suggests the new model appears to be paying off.
In recent weeks, advertising revenue has exceeded the combined advertising and circulation revenue generated in the same weeks a year ago. So Lebedev hopes the Standard will now break even in 2011

Source: FT/Media Guardian

Online-Only ‘Not On The Horizon’ - Interview with Jimmy Leach, Digital Director The Independent

The Independent is unlikely to be sold or go online-only despite growing speculation, according to a senior online executive. Jimmy Leach, editorial director for digital, spoke to paidContent:UK hours after Independent News & Media told the stock market it was looking to sell off unprofitable, non-core assets to maintain a healthy balance sheet despite an “unwarranted” share price slump. Leach, the former head of new media at 10 Downing Street who joined the Indie in July, says that an Indie sell-off is not on the cards and that his small team must use social media to drive traffic in lieu of a big marketing budget…

Independent sell-off? Online-only?: “It’s not on the horizon. Those conversations are above my pay grade but I would have said that [making profit] isn’t why (INM CEO) Tony O’Reilly has newspapers in the first place.” A few people have openly questioned whether the loss-making Indie titles could be sold off and new Evening Standard owner Alexander Lebedev reportedly expressed an interest. But Leach says a more plausible scenario is that INM sells its non-controlling stakes in other companies around the world. Observers have suggested INM scrap the print editions and concentrate on Independent.co.uk—but Leach says that move is highly unlikely.

Exposure through social media: Independent.co.uk has been busy signing social media partnerships: last November it launched its Independent Minds blogging platform in partnership with LiveJournal; it now has its own YouTube channel and there are content deals with news betting site Hubdub and news aggregator Reddit. “If you can’t spend massive amounts on marketing you have to find other ways of doing it,” he says. “You have to go where the audience is rather than expecting them to come to us.” He says that with a bigger budget the paper would consider investing in advertising to draw people into the site, but then he wonders whether that would make sense in the long term.

Audience vs revenue: Some have questioned whether social media really can lead to increased profits, but that’s definitely Leach’s plan: “The longer the journey they make on the site, the more inventory you’ll sell and the more money you’ll make,” he says. The YouTube deal includes a revenue-sharing agreement, but Leach is realistic about its monetary worth: “YouTube haven’t successfully monetised themselves, let alone [allowing partners] to get a fantastic share… It’s more to drive awareness that we’re here.”

Low resources Independent.co.uk has quietly doubled its online audience to 8.88 million unique users in November, according to ABCe, compared to 4.6 million a year ago. But the Indie has a fraction of the online staff or marketing budget of its rivals: Leach runs a team of just 10 people. INM group revenues increased 27 percent in the nine months to October, though it is unlikely Independent.co.uk is making a major contribution to profits.

Associated move: The Indie and the Independent on Sunday will shortly leave their current London Docklands home and move into DMGT’s Associated Newspapers office in Kensington. The two companies will reportedly share IT resources and Leach predicts the tie-in to end there: “I’d be quite surprised if there was any editorial sharing. I’m not entirely sure what that will entail, I’m sure they’ll discuss all possibilities.”

Source: PaidContent:UK