NewsDay has continued to record phenomenal growth and is now the country’s biggest daily by sold copies, Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) Chairman Trevor Ncube has said.
In a statement to readers and advertisers on Wednesday, Ncube said NewsDay was now printing 50 000 copies daily, up from 10 000 when the paper hit the streets on June 7 last year, while advertising revenue had also grown tremendously.
“We sell anything between 82% and 93% of our print run depending on the impact of the lead story, and the time of the week and month. This achievement is all the more impressive considering Zimbabwe’s current economic problems and unemployment levels, estimated to be upwards of 80%,” he said.
“With a conservative pass-on rate of five readers per sold copy, NewsDay’s current readership stands between 205 000 and 232 500 per day.”
Projections were that NewsDay would print 45 000 copies by June this year, but that figure had been surpassed.
“At this rate we are confident that NewsDay’s print run will be over 80 000 by year-end,” said Ncube.
He thanked the newspaper’s readers and advertisers for supporting the product through its growth.
Ncube said the company’s market intelligence had revealed that NewsDay had become the nation’s largest daily.
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He, however, bemoaned the fact that there was no way of independently verifying the development or claims by competitors.
He called for a transparent and standardised way of reporting circulation so as to better serve the advertising industry.
“Until our industry is better organised to provide this transparency, AMH will be working towards putting measures in place that help win the confidence and trust of our advertisers and readers. The Zimbabwe publishing industry needs to move to a much more professional footing where exaggerated and unscrupulous circulation claims become a thing of the past,” said Ncube.
“Market surveys can never take the place of credible and verifiable sold copies as the industry’s currency. This is the international best practice. The publishing industry is all about transparency and accountability and AMH believes it is time we practiced what we preach when it comes to the currency of our industry.”
