The shifting sand that is the local news business, including that of the Swansea area, was illustrated dramatically this week.
Six-monthly circulation figures saw online readership rocket but print readership continue to decline significantly.
For instance, although the website of the South Wales Evening Post, Llanelli Star and Carmarthen Journal was more than 25% up, the print titles fell 8.8%, 4.3% and 5.3% respectively.
The picture from the industry standard ABC was similar for those media folk over in Cardiff, with Swansea-interest titles The Western Mail and Wales on Sunday rising in e-form but sliding in print.
The situation has already seen Establishment-baiting blog Inside Out inquire as to whether it’s time to consider a print equivalent of the BBC in Wales - a nationalised Welsh press power.
Unlikely, I would say – but there’s certainly a case for new, independent operators to start looking at business models which don’t demand large profit margins for people in Lond.
Incidentally, the web and print audience trends of South Wales newspaper publishers are reflected across the UK. Challenging times all around. Who’ll hire – or nurture - the visionary who can convert web traffic into riches?
Audience figures (Jun-Dec 09)
Online (average daily unique users, average monthly unique users, change year on year)
www.walesonline.co.uk (35,570, 758,276, 3.3%)
thisissouthwales (11,524, 196,703, 25.5%)
Print (sales, change year on year)
Dailies
South Wales Evening Post (43,644, -8.8%)
Western Mail (30,133, -10.6%)
Weeklies
Carmarthen Journal (18,576, -5.3%)
Llanelli Star (13,880, -4.3%)
South Wales Guardian (7,028, -12.4%)
Sunday
Wales on Sunday (32,268, -10.3%)
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