Red-tops aim to sell to World Cup fans by publishing in South Africa

The Daily Mirror and The Sun are about to kick off a circulation war on another continent. Both papers are planning to publish in South Africa during the World Cup.

The Mirror will print daily issues in the country for the one-month duration of the tournament, starting on 11 June. It will be the same issue as that published in London.

The Sun is adopting a different approach. It will publish on the day the England team play and then the day after each game.

The Mirror , which will be printed and distributed by South African media group Avusa , has not disclosed how many copies it plans to put out for sale. The Sunday Mirror will also be published in the same way.

However, there will be thousands of England fans in the country, so the red-tops may well sell rather well.

Trinity Mirror's overseas circulation manager Mark White said: “Some days the print runs will be higher than others. The big print runs will be the day before [England] games, the day of the game and the day after the game.”

And Mirror editor Richard Wallace promised “the most comprehensive coverage of the World Cup”. Well, he would, wouldn’t he?

Anyway, other British national papers are expected to print their titles digitally during the tournament. For instance, the Telegraph Media Group has confirmed that its titles will be available via the on-demand newspaper service Newspaper Direct.

Sources: bizcommunity/Printweek/Brand Republic

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