Network Rail has issued a tender inviting expressions of interest from companies interested in publishing and distributing a new afternoon/evening newspaper at Manchester Piccadilly station.
PJ Taylor, deputy head of media at Network Rail told How-Do the tender would close towards the end of July and they were hoping to conclude the process as soon as possible thereafter.
Network Rail awarded a contract to News International (NI) last autumn to publish a paper for its 11 directly managed London stations. The resulting title, The London Paper, presently has a circulation of between 350,000 to 400,000 copies a day. It competes with Associated Newspaper’s Metro, Associated’s spoiler freebie London Lite and Associated’s paid daily the Standard.
It is understood that NI has already registered the title The Manchester Paper.
Network Rail directly manages 18 main line stations in the UK, of which just six are outside London and the South East: Liverpool Lime Street, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Leeds, Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly.
PJ Taylor
Taylor said there are no plans at the moment to develop titles for the other regional stations.
“We chose Manchester” he said “because the city is clearly booming and its GDP is as big as Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield combined. It was the obvious place for us to start outside London. It has scale and an already busy media community.”
Taylor said Network Rail is being realistic however about the paper and its prospects, bearing in mind Piccadilly station’s daily footfall is around 60,000 people – a fraction of the 12 London/South East stations.
The primary benefit in Manchester for the company would be, at least initially, a product offering for and to target its customers. Taylor said he felt it unlikely Network Rail would achieve a seven figure annual return from the venture but that the tender itself would help shape everyone’s expectations.
He wouldn’t be drawn on likely bidders beyond saying it would appeal to those interested in gaining a serious foothold in the Manchester market. The timing of the launch would depend on the publisher, “some may have products ready to go and others may be planning one.”
NI will clearly be interested – if indeed it hasn’t already played a part in drawing up the tender – while Associated issued a ‘no comment’ to How-Do. Other potential bidders could include Richard Desmond who has repeatedly expressed interest in launching in London and Manchester could provide a useful if much smaller, alternative commercial opportunity. Desmond currently has substantial production capability in the North West at Preston.
The paper will face stiff competition in a “cluttered environment” from the Metro and the MEN commented Becky Gagan, a senior press buyer with media agency Feather Brooksbank.
The Metro in Manchester currently has a circulation of around 100,000 copies a day while the number of free copies of the MEN in the city centre has risen to around 80,000 copies a day.
Jason Spencer, the MD of media agency PHD North, said what concerns him will be “the ability of the new venture to target a sufficiently different audience and demographics to those of the MEN and Metro. If they can reach a younger audience or more females, then it would be of serious interest. I think more coverage of entertainment and sport in the region would have appeal too.
“What will be interesting” he added “is where they will be able to expand their distribution to and whether they will use the same guerrilla tactics that the London Paper has employed.”
Given the footfall at Piccadilly, a circulation of over 10,000 would be a result with subsequent readership of circa 30,000. Not a figure to dangerously affect the MEN but still an encroachment of its patch and if the winner did indeed prove to be NI, it’s unlikely the initial foothold would remain ‘initial’ for too long.
Gagan is full of admiration for the MEN. “It was a bold step to go entirely free in the city centre last year and it seems to be going very well.
“The Metro also does a great job. It is hard to spot someone without a copy of the paper in the morning in Manchester city centre.
“For those of us buying advertising in the city, it’s happy days. Bring it on!”
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