Lancashire Magazine, the title owned by Owen Oyston’s Ridings Publishing Company, is making further inroads into the lucrative county magazine market, with the news that it has switched to a monthly frequency and now boasts a circulation in excess of 20,000. Not far short of that of Oyston’s former publishing pride and joy Lancashire Life…
Lancashire crossed the 20,000 threshold (20,288 – and all paid for according to advertising director Joanne Geddes) in the latest ABC figures, released on 14 February.
To coincide with that milestone, chief executive Peter Bourhill switched the frequency from bi-monthly to monthly, as, he told How-Do, he felt that the title had reached the point where it “deserved” to be hitting the county’s coffee tables with greater regularity.
“The plan to take the magazine monthly has been in place for about nine months,” he explained.
“We wanted to reach that 20,000 mark first and then switch over. A magazine with that audience deserves to be monthly and there’s certainly the appetite for it - from our readers and advertisers - so it made perfect sense. The March issue is the first.”
The developments mark a stellar rise for the magazine bought by Oyston in 2004.
Circulation has risen from 6,000 to its current level in the last 18 months alone and pagination, fuelled by advertising that’s deliberately ‘reasonably’ priced, is stable at over 200 pages (the latest issue is 212, while September’s weighed in at a hefty 292 pages).
As previously illustrated on How-Do, it’s difficult to separate the intertwined histories of Lancashire and Lancashire Life, Owen Oyston and Archant, but today Bourhill – himself formerly a Lancashire Life man – would rather focus on the success of Lancashire than ‘the battle of the Red Rose magazines.’
“It’s receiving very positive feedback from all quarters,” he claimed.
The competition
“The advertising is going well and we have very good forward bookings. Our business plans are being matched and it’s growing in line with our expectations.
“But apart from that,” he stressed, “the readers are reacting well because, put simply, it’s a very good read.”
“It sounds like a facile thing to say, but the magazine is actually about Lancashire and that’s its strength.
“It’s not lost its focus like a lot of other county magazines and switched to being more of a general lifestyle title. That’s not what the readers are looking for and that’s not what we’re going to give them.”
Bourhill sees another key factor in Lancashire’s growth as its price.
Lancashire is only £1.60, half as much as its main competitor, and that, says Bourhill, encourages sampling.
“Once people have tried it they find out they don’t have to pay more,” he opined, “and then they’ll stay with us.”
Bourhill also has similarly grand ambitions for sister title Yorkshire Ridings, which he plans to take monthly from August this year.
Archant, which also publishes Yorkshire Life, will no doubt be taking note.
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