Another print title bites the dust
UK-based Trader Media Group, the publisher of car magazine, Auto Trader, says its will publish the final edition of its magazine portfolio in June, having completed its transition to an online digital business.
The group points out however, that its subsidiary in South Africa is unaffected.
Trader Media Group’s other titles, Top Marques, Truck and Plant, Van Trader and Farm Trader will all continue online.
Trader Media’s South African business runs and operates independently from the UK business and its plans and strategies are developed based on local market needs, says Angelique Lynch, head of marketing at Auto Trader SA.
“In that context we don’t have plans to cease our print edition in the near-mid future as we still sell around 15,000 copies of Auto Trader per week -which shows there is demand in this market,” Lynch said, adding that autotrader.co.za attracts up to 850,000 unique visitors each month.
A number of strong local print titles have closed recently, including Sports Illustrated, and health and wellness magazine, Shape, due to revenue losses and declining circulation figures.
Trader Media Group says that its move in the UK marks the culmination of strategy to migrate all its activities to digital platforms, as motorists and dealers move online to access information and buy and sell vehicles.
Circulation of the print edition of Auto Trader had declined from a peak of 368,000 in January 2000, to 27,000 in March 2013, whereas there have been positive levels of growth across the digital platforms, with mobile up 67%, tablet up 130% and desktop increasing 13% year‐on‐year, Trader Media Group said.
Autotrader.co.uk receives over 11 million unique visitors each month to its website and over three and a half million readers access the mobile site.
The group said it is further strengthening its multi‐channel digital offering with the launch of a new mobile service that allows individuals to sell their car directly from a smart phone.
Zillah Byng Maddick, interim CEO at Trader Media Group, said: “With a marked shift by consumers and dealers to online platforms as a means of accessing information and buying and selling vehicles, we continue to innovate to ensure that we offer them the products and services they require through their channels of choice.”
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