Britain’s first new standalone national newspaper in three decades has become yesterday’s news when Trinity Mirror killed off the title nine weeks after it was launched.
The New Day, which was launched without a website, had adopted the motto: “Life’s short. Let’s live it well”. It was right — in the first instance, at least — with circulation falling to about 30,000 from 150,000 at the end of February.
Trinity Mirror, which also publishes the Mirror and People titles, said that the trajectory did not meet expectations and quickly pulled the plug. It had hoped to reach a profit with a 50p cover price but needed to shift about 200,000 copies a day to achieve that goal.
The staff of 25 who worked on the 40-page title were told about its closure on Wednesday. They decided to publish a final edition today, which will be its 50th.
Staff were frustrated that Trinity Mirror had not given the title longer to find its audience or at least try a revamp. It is also understood that the paper suffered from poor distribution, with many people complaining that they did not see the paper in the shops.
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The newspaper had initially targeted aspirational 30 to 40-year-olds who wanted a more optimistic slant on the news, but it is understood that its older readers liked the large print.
Trinity Mirror shares leapt by 6p, or 5 per cent, to close at 119p yesterday, with investors unexcited about The New Day’s prospects. Alex DeGroote, a Peel Hunt analyst, said: “In our circumnavigations around the investment community, we have gleaned little enthusiasm for the project.” Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, was more scathing about Trinity Mirror’s vision of launching a print-only national newspaper. “This is hardly a surprise,” he said. “The move was moronic in the first place. In a world where print is declining there was never a place for another title that had no real USP. Ill-conceived, badly executed and completely foolish — it’s hard to fathom what Trinity Mirror was trying to achieve.”
Trinity Mirror said that it was disappointed to have to close the paper, but that its short-lived run had “provided new insights into enhancing our newspapers, and a number of these opportunities will be considered over time”.
Alison Phillips, The New Day editor, said that her team and the company had tried everything to make it work. She added: “There clearly were many people who truly loved the idea of a different kind of newspaper that spoke to them. But the reality was we didn’t have enough of them on a daily basis.”
The move came as Trinity Mirror said that like-for-like group revenue had fallen by 8.6 per cent between December 28 and May 1. Its print advertising revenues fell by 19 per cent and circulation revenues dropped by 4.5 per cent.
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In a statement before its annual meeting, the company said that it expected performance this year to be “in line with market expectations”.
“The trading environment for print advertising continues to be volatile,” it said. “We continue to focus on the delivery of our strategy — namely, growing our digital audience and revenue, coupled with tight management of the cost base.”