The other morning, our newspaper person accidentally dropped a couple of delivery lists in our garden while delivering our paper.
As an occasional cruncher of newspaper sales numbers, I found them rather interesting, and I thought I might as well put them to good use, just in case there’s someone (anyone?) out there who’s just as sad as me…
On the streets covered by the rounds, there are approximately 860 houses. Just 54 of them have a(t least one) newspaper delivered.
This was during the school holidays, so it could be that some houses had cancelled their papers because they were away.
It was also a weekday; maybe more people get a paper delivered on a Sunday, when they have time to digest the contents with their breakfast.
It’s also possible that some of the residents of the 800 or so houses that didn’t have a paper delivered – our neighbour, for example – buy one from a shop.
Others could use another newsagent, although seeing as ours is the only one for a couple of miles, I’m not sure how likely that is.
And, of course, who knows how many people in those 800 or so houses that don’t get a paper delivered – and maybe even some who do – are avid users of newspaper websites?
But these delivery lists are proof of people actually putting their hands in their pockets to pay for the news they consume; a demonstration that they care enough to hand over hard cash (rather than allow their data to be pillaged in exchange for it).
Is it worth examining exactly what that six per cent-or-so of my neighbours are paying for? I think so…
My community is, I suppose, what you would call ‘mixed’, in class and (assumed) wealth terms, anyway (in race/religion terms it’s very much still white British). It’s Northern – on the edge of Bolton, and it’s a former (many years ago, we’re not talking 1980s here) mining community. There’s not much in the way of places of employment now, though, so I’d be surprised if more than 20 per cent of the residents work within a mile radius of their home; most will have to commute.
So that’s the market we’re talking about.
The rounds cover three private housing estates; two built in the 1960s, one in the 1980s. Quite a lot of the 1960s houses seem to be occupied by people who bought them when they were new, or almost new, ie people in their 60s and 70s. The 1980s estate seems a bit more mixed.
The smaller 1960s estate comprises about 60 houses. Nine of them get a paper. And the most popular one is…. The Daily Mail. Six houses get that, including two who also get the local paper, the Bolton News.
One gets only the Bolton News, and two get just the Daily Express.
The bigger 1960s estate has around 300 houses, including a couple of dozen council/ex-council houses right on the very edge.
That’s more mixed. Five get the Daily Mirror, including two who get the Bolton News as well. (Three of them live on the same road of private houses. No other paper even figures on that road, even though the houses, and residents, are not really any different from those around them.)
Three get the Daily Telegraph and three The Times, including one who gets the Bolton News too. Just two get the Mail, and only one The Guardian. In fact that’s the only Guardian on all of these rounds.
Four get the Bolton News alone.
The delivery round/s seem to cover something like 150 houses on the 1980s estate. (Either the newspaper person didn’t drop the lists for them or no one there gets a paper.)
The most popular paper is… The Daily Mail (again!): five households get that, all of them on the same street. (It is mainly bungalows, ie popular with older people, though.)
Three take the Daily Telegraph (two on ‘Daily Mail’ street); three houses get the Bolton News; one The Times, and one the Daily Mirror.
And now we come to the council and ex-council house estate. If you’re thinking Shameless here, then don’t, because, while the streets aren’t exactly Millionaire’s Row, they ain’t exactly feral either.
And the most popular paper on those streets? The Sun. Four houses get that. Two get the Mirror, one the Daily Mail and one the Bolton News.
On the half-mile or so stretch of main road that figures in the round/s, the most popular paper is the Bolton News – three houses get that. Two get the Express and one the Daily Telegraph.
I’m not sure exactly what all the above says about where I live – other than there’s lean pickings for newspaper delivery people – but someone (other than me) might find it interesting.
Alison Winward 