The Saturday Paper has claimed its first issue sold out of newsagents with 2,000 new subscribers signing up over the weekend. CEO Rebecca Costello said that its website also racked-up 300,000 page impressions during those two days. However, she would not be drawn on total sales and admitted that launch was not without teething issues.
In some newsagents, she claimed, The Saturday Paper, had outsold The Weekend Australian and that "we were selling out in the majority of news agents by mid-morning Saturday".
“Obviously we want to be available for the whole weekend, so we've taken that feedback to get our numbers right but on the sales front we couldn't be happier,” she said.
The paper's Twitter account indicated that there were some issues with subscriptions, with subscribers asking why their copy had not arrived. Costello played down the issue. Costello said that around 100 subscribers had not received their paper. But she said subscriptions staff had been working "twelve hours a day" to address the problem.
“You would expect that with any new title launch weather it be a magazine or a newspaper, there are going to be some teething issues, but we've worked out the communications issue between our distributor and home delivery agencies and everyone has been looked after," she said.
Costello said advertisers were receptive, that forward bookings were "good" and that a year-long partnership with Mercedes-Benz as well as other advertisers over the year afforded some stability in revenue terms.
The Age last week reported that publisher Morry Schwartz was was hoping to sell between 60,000 and 80,000 copies a week. Costello said it too early to reveal sales figures from the first issue.
Despite stiff competition in Melbourne, where the Guardian is staffing up its new operation, there is definitely room for The Saturday Paper in the mix, said Costello.
“The Guardian is online only but for us it's the quality, long-form narrative journalism that sets us apart. That's been what’s missing.”
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