The Times has been winning praise and plaudits throughout the Olympic Games for a series of stunning front and back page wraps. But while they have certainly made the most of some iconic images and memorable performances, the big question for many media watchers has been whether the designs have actually contributed to a rise in sales.
The answer appears to be yes. Figures published today by The Guardian suggest The Times has added around 180,000 additional sales during the Games.
Social Media
That may not sound much at a time when you might expect all newspapers to be bringing in extra readers clamouring for Olympic news and comment. But that has not proved to be the case across the board. The Sun and the Daily Star have both experienced significant drops in sales, according to the figures and many of the closest rivals to The Times have added more modest sales.
It's also easy to believe the newspaper industry's ability to compete in print has been severely tested as never before by the pressure from diverse online channels during the Games. With 26 channels of BBC coverage online and on mobiles, a ramping up of the papers' own online coverage and record-breaking levels of social media activity around each medal win and event, print's already inherent tardiness has been further exposed by the immediacy of information available during these "first social media Games".
Add to that the fact August tends to see a slowdown in sales as readers head off on holiday.
Looked at in that context, the increased sales brought in by The Times, and the decision to focus so much effort on print's undeniable visual strength in response to the speed and choice of digital channels, looks all the more like a medal winning performance for the people behind designs such as these:
Nice post - True print never dies!Olympics is surely giving a good boost to this.
Posted by: webtoprint | Aug 09, 2012 at 09:01