Ireland on Sunday claws into a competitive market

When the Irish Press Group of newspapers folded in 1994, more than 150,000 newspaper buyers found themselves without the paper they had religiously purchased each Sunday, the Sunday Press.

This was obviously of benefit to the other papers on sale at the time, but 18 months ago a new newspaper was launched which offered something closer to what Press readers were used to. Ireland on Sunday sold out almost every copy the day it first appeared on news-stands in September 1997.

It originally hoped to sell about 50,000 copies a week. Most recent figures show sales of over 60,000 - not bad for a new player in such a competitive market. Interestingly, it has achieved those figures without causing any great fall in the circulation of other Irish papers, apart from a moderate decline for the Sunday Independent. This suggests that perhaps many new Ireland on Sunday readers were not previously buying another Irish paper - or that they've added it to their Sunday pile without removing anything else.

Ashley Balbirnie, the managing director of the paper, says: "Our primary aim is to provide an alternative view to what is available on Sundays here." He cites the influence of Tony O'Reilly's Independent Newspapers: "In excess of 90 per cent of the market is owned by one person, so there was a need to provide some diversity. A chunk of people were looking for an alternative and they have now switched to us."

Ireland on Sunday grew out of Ireland's first sports newspaper, the Title. The Title, which was not a big success on its own, is now carried as a section of Ireland on Sunday, offering readers very extensive sports coverage.

According to Balbirnie, "the age profile of the readers we are building up is the 15-to-40 year old market, and sports plays a significant role in that respect."

A "well designed modern environment" was also a factor intended to attract the younger readership, though "content is always the most important thing," says Balbirnie. "If the sweet inside a glorious wrapper doesn't taste nice, people won't buy it again. People certainly expect high design standards, but editorial content is most important."

Ensuring the news is newsy is a priority. "We felt Sundays had become too dominated by opinion so, rather than sideline news to opinion, we have shifted the emphasis in our mix.

"One of our strongest points is that the paper really is Ireland on Sunday. We're trying to get away from the idea of Dublin 4 as the centre of the universe and we cover news from all 32 counties."

The paper also takes "a soft nationalist" stance on issues relating to Northern Ireland. "We had a deliberate intention when we started off," says Balbirnie. "We felt the peace process had taken the idea of a united Ireland onto a new plane, which wasn't necessarily reflected in other papers."

A section full of celeb gossip is pretty much a prerequisite of a successful Sunday paper. The "living and entertainment" section with Ireland on Sunday is called Xs. Its front-page story this week was an interview with Sheila McWade of Fair City.

There were also stories about Liam Neeson's wife, about Monica Lewinsky, Kevin Costner, the Oscars, and all the usuals like fashion, horoscopes (essential Sunday reading) health and cooking.

"The middle section is personality driven," Balbirnie says. "People love stories about the rich and famous."

One of the most controversial stories broken by Ireland on Sunday was its serialisation of a biography of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, written by two Ireland on Sunday reporters. "That was the story which attracted the most attention," says Balbirnie, "and, while it tended to get caught up in a web of denials, at the end of the day it stood up to the closest of scrutiny."