Stokes challenges News Ltd’s WA Sunday monopoly
One of the longest standing unofficial truces in the Australian media industry appears to have ended, with Kerry Stokes’ The West Australian moving onto News Ltd’s Sunday turf.
The West Australian’s Saturday edition is to become The Weekend West and be on sale across the whole weekend.
Previously the 226,000 circulation The West Australian, which has been under the control of Stokes since late in 2008, has had WA’s weekday publishing market to itself while Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd has enjoyed a similar print monpoly over Sundays with the 300,000 circulation Sunday Times.
The move, which puts the two into direct print competition in WA for the first time, raises the possibility that News Ltd might respond with a weekday product. News Ltd’s WA printing press – Perth Print – is only about ten years old, and while it already produces a limited daily run of The Australian, it would have further capacity.
The Weekend West will launch on October 30.
In an announcement West Australian Newspaper said: “This change brings a new freshness and vitality to the paper positioning it as an all-weekend read of news, opinion, information and entertainment.
Consumer research over the past 18 months evidenced readers consuming the newspaper in a different way and with a different mindset on the weekend versus the weekday.
Editor Brett McCarthy said, “The change to the masthead acknowledges what many of our readers have already pointed out – there is a whole weekend’s reading in the newspaper.”
Advertisers are being offered a greater number of solus positions as part of the relaunch. Sales director David Bignold said: “The launch of The Weekend West marks a new era in weekend reading and some exciting opportunities for our advertisers. Increased availability with Saturday and Sunday sales means greater longevity for advertising, while design features enhance the advertising environment to
maximize impact and ownership of the page.”
West Australian Newspapers CEO Chris Wharton said: “These changes haven’t been made just for the sake of change but to better serve our readers’ and advertisers’ interests.
A marketing campaign for the paper will kick off at the weekend.
Sunday Times MD Jason Scott told Mumbrella that rebadging The West Australian’s Saturday edition as a weekend newspaper would not make it a Sunday paper. He said: “I don’t think West Australians are as easily fooled as that.”
Adding that there was no truce, official or otherwise, he did not rule out launching News Ltd’s free daily commuter offering, mX, in the city. He said: “We’re always looking for new opportunities. It’s been very successful in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Perth is the next biggest city. But I don’t have a business plan in front of me.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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That is a massive change in the market! I’m sure there is some other factor involved in this gamechanger that we haven’t seen yet. Kinda feels like James Packer’s raid on channel 10.
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Editor Brett McCarthy said, “The change to the masthead acknowledges what many of our readers have already pointed out – there is a whole weekend’s reading in the newspaper.”
What bollocks. Is Mr McCarthy seriously expecting to believe that many customers have “pointed this out”? Is the real number of customers that have told you this actually zero Brett? Have you in fact pulled this tosh out of your arse?
What a joke. There’s barely 15 minutes read in The Saturday West as it is. AND they’re going to a larger typeface. Will this actually mean there will be less to read just bigger? Travellers to the East are often astounded to find that the massive weekend editions really do have stuff to last the whole weekend. Not The West.
It’s not a game changer. You can still buy the paper on Sundays if you want anyway. Calling it something different with bigger text isn’t going to mean a thing.
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Go Kerry!
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Yes, go Kerry.
But perhaps Kerry if you were able to have a think about the fact that your editor has no writers who can take this pensioner friendly big print Saturday West into the uncharted territory of Sunday. Maybe you could consider employing some actual journalists who could produce some real stories that could take a reader into Sunday. Maybe instead of a masthead change, you might consider asking Mr MCcarthy to provide some actual content? There, I’ve said it. Content. You’ve got old dinosaurs like Paul Murray and Pam casellas churning out 1970s drivel, and the young crowd cutting and pasting out of facebook. The whole paper is a com[plete f*cking mess. If you want to take on Sunday, upping the font size is not going to cut it.
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Size of newspaper fonts appears to increase along with average age of the baby boomer cohort.
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On the subject of Sunday papers, can you believe Fairfax is head hunting an outsider to run the Sun-Herald.
Maybe they should follow the WA example, declare the SMH to be the Weekend Herald, scrap the S-H and save all that money on paper, ink and staff,
God forgive me, what am I saying! If McCarthy sees that suggestion he will impliment it.
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