More Guardian classifieds worries

Posted by Martin Stabe on 17 February 2006 at 16:27
Tags: Guardian, Guardian Media Group, Online

How many posts can we have in one day about the Guardian’s hand-wringing about classified ads moving online? At least one more, I’m afraid.

This time Brand Republic does the honors with a story about the Guardian-owned Auto Trader magazine:

Since GMG bought Trader Media in October 2003 for £600m, Auto Trader’s circulation is down 21.9%. In the first half of 2003, its average sale was 365,549, compared with the second half of 2005’s 285,501.

In a stark indicator of classified advertising’s shift out of print, other buying and selling titles have suffered even worse falls. Since the first half of 2003, Trader Media’s general Ad Trader is down 30.8% to 157,173 copies, while rival Loot, owned by the Daily Mail & General Trust, is down 38.4% to 153,744.

GMG is currently studying possible asset disposals as a safeguard for the future of its newspaper business and on February 2 appointed Merrill Lynch to advise.

Trader Media is the jewel in its crown, having generated £116.6m of GMG’s £122.4m operating profit for 2005, thanks in part to its profitable Auto Trader website. The site attracts 4.8m monthly users and 8,300 car dealers, according to GMG’s 2005 financial report.

No wonder Alan Rusbridger asked his audience to “say a small prayer” for Auto Trader at his Queen Mary speech last week.

Tags: Guardian, Guardian Media Group, Online