Sunday newspapers fight for space

"My brief was clear," she says. "After 30 years, it was time for City Press to be more than a leading black Sunday paper. It had to be a leading Sunday paper." Inevitably, this brings it into conflict with the Big Daddy of them all, the Sunday Times, positioned squarely where City Press wants to be, with readers among all race groups.

"We're making a solid challenge for a much larger share of the Sunday reading market," says Haffajee. "We expect a fight-back from the Sunday Times."

Haffajee's circulation target is a big ask: 300 000 within five years. To get there from the current 176 000 (January to March 2010) will require growth of 12% a year - unprecedented for a large, established publication. Current Sunday paper growth leader Ilanga langeSonto has managed 16% a year for four years.

Ana Oxlee-Moore, MD of media strategy agency Mediology, doesn't believe it's achievable. "It's a big shift, and it will take a long time to turn readers. Under a new editor the Sunday Times will also get some fresh thinking. It already has more black readers than City Press. It would make more sense to target that segment."

With 13 Sunday papers and 12 weekend editions published on Saturdays, the weekend market is undoubtedly the most competitive of all newspaper segments – and getting more so.

But many papers are struggling. "Many people who used to buy two newspapers on Sundays have cut back to one," says MediaShop MD Virginia Hollis. Six of the nine established titles have experienced circulations losses in the period, but with three new entrants, the total number of newspapers purchased every Sunday has risen by 1.3%. Clearly there's potential.

For Hollis, the most exciting potential is to tweak the tail of the Sunday Times. "It's a good idea to give them a hard time," she says. "They have  strangled the industry for long enough."

Of Haffajee, she says: "I was very impressed - she certainly knows her stuff. She will do the world of good for that paper; she will take it to the next level. People will start talking about the editorial and that will lead to circulation growth."

The most striking evidence of change at City Press has been the colourful new design by Singaporean designer Peter Ong. But Haffajee believes "content must lead design. You can make it pretty but if the content doesn’t deliver what the reader wants, no amount of design will substitute."

She's put the paper on a strong news footing, appointed new staff to improve writing, changed the tone and been rewarded with positive feedback from readers and an appreciable strengthening of readership figures.

"We want to be a quality Sunday read, characterised by quality of design, writing and photography. Quality doesn't mean long, boring screeds of copy."

"If anybody can do it, Ferial can," says Johan Prins of media agency newcomer Space. "Race is probably less of a factor in newspaper habits than it was. City Press has the underdog advantage of being able to focus on a niche. It will be difficult for the Sunday Times to counter this."

Fin24.com’s attempts to get comment from Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley were unsuccessful.

 - Fin24.com