News 08/09/2002

Tabloid UK papers target Malta media battlefield

By David Lindsay

Malta has been targeted by the UK’s Express Group - publishers of the Daily Express, the Sunday Express and The Star – as a battlefield in its heightening war against long-time rivals the Daily Mail.

British newspaper sales in UK holiday hot spots such as Malta, the Costa del Sol, the Cote d'Azur and the Greek islands have long been dominated by the Daily Mail. But the state of affairs is expected to change, at least if the Express Group has a say in the matter.

In fact, according to press reports appearing in The Guardian and The Observer, the Express group – headed by the enigmatic Richard Desmond – has opened a printing site in Malta, joined by sister sites in Greece and Tenerife.

The development forms part of the Group’s bid to get the morning papers to the British holidaymaking consumer, ever hungry for the latest tabloid offerings from back home, the same morning.

In another day and age, the logistics involved in co-ordinating such a printing feat would have proved daunting, if not impossible, but in today’s age of rapid communication and file transfer facilities the previously unimaginable has become commonplace.

The Group’s ploy has been successful so far, with the Daily Express selling 63,323 copies outside of Britain in July, compared to 39,957 in the same month last year. Meanwhile, the Sunday Express sold an even higher 65,728 copies abroad compared to 39,274 in July 2001.

"These new print centres allow for same-day sale, which has obviously had a positive impact combined with the seasonal increase in British holidaymakers abroad," a spokesperson for the Express Group recently commented.

Copies of the Daily Mail are prolific in many of Malta’s tourist havens - such as Bugibba and Sliema - and the Daily Mail is known to increase its print runs during the summer in a bid to get Britons abroad to sample their products while on holiday, which they might not do while at home.

According to an insider at the Daily Mail's parent group, Associated Newspapers, "The Daily Mail bins are the equivalent of airport blockbusters. You have a captive audience - people lazing around with hours of time on their hands. If you can get them sampling your product, there is a chance they might pick up the habit when they return to the UK."

With 451,530 British tourists visiting Malta last year alone, and staying for a total of 4,636,278 nights on the islands, there can be little doubt the market certainly exists – a market the Express Group is determined to conquer.