Consolidation closes papers

ACP Media is closing two classified papers and will concentrate more on its online offerings.

The closure of Hawkes Bay's Thursday Trader and the Buy Sell & Exchange Dunedin edition this week was partly due to ongoing pressure from the online advertising market, ACP chief executive Heith Mackay-Cruise said.

However, he denied either title was making a loss.

"Commercially, it makes us a more robust organisation. We don't have any loss-making titles in our business and we don't plan to," he said.

The move followed large falls in circulation for several of ACP Media's Trader Group division publications last year, including a 25.9 per cent drop for Buy Sell & Exchange's Otago edition.

The closure of the Dunedin edition will see ACP effectively withdraw from Otago, where the company had few titles to complement the publication.

MacKay-Cruise said advertising from the closed Otago and Hawkes Bay titles would be consolidated with existing papers, Canterbury's Buy Sell & Exchange and Bay of Plenty-based Bay Trader respectively.

The closed publications had a cover price but listings were free for private advertisers. Like advertisements in the company's other classified papers, listings also run on ACP Media's classified website.

MacKay-Cruise said online auctions increased pressures on print classified advertising but the two mediums could be complementary.

"When you look at the automotive classifieds, it's a hybrid model," he said.

The North Island's Trade & Exchange has also come under pressure from the internet. Publications manager Steve Edmonds said the Cabbage Tree Press title reduced the frequency of its northern edition from twice a week to once in 2004 because of pressure from classified websites.

Its central edition closed last year.

Like ACP and many other publishers, the company is trying to push as many listings as possible on to its websites while also retaining print listings.

Edmonds said the paper still had a strong and loyal following, particularly among "blue collar" workers.

"The genuine traders, the genuine buyers and sellers - the people that have a legitimate need - we've still got and the paper is still a bit of a Bible to them," said Edmonds.

Future Practice

The Buy Sell & Exchange Dunedin edition circulation dropped 25.9 per cent last year.

The classified paper's circulation was just over 2500 a week.

Otago advertising from the closed paper will be consolidated into the Canterbury edition and distributed throughout the South Island.