British publisher Trinity Mirror said today it would shut the New Day newspaper it launched just nine weeks ago after an attempt to introduce a new title to the fiercely competitive market failed.
Trinity, which also publishes the Daily Mirror and People tabloids, said it had decided to shut the New Day after the circulation figures fell below its expectations.
The title was launched in February and the company was aiming for a circulation of 200,000 copies a day. However, sales are reported to have been about 40,000.
The company added that despite the closure of the paper, it continued to expect performance for the year to be in line with market expectations.
The introduction of The New Day came despite a sharp decline in newspaper sales as readers switch to websites.
It was launched after the UK Independent and Independent On Sunday newspapers closed this year after three decades to go digital-only.
At the time of its launch, the group said the title would cover news and features in "an upbeat, optimistic approach and will be politically neutral".
Trinity, which also owns the Daily Mirror and a host of regional titles, said The New Day would initially be available free of charge from 40,000 retailers, before trialling at 25 pence for two weeks and then selling for 50 pence after that.
Trinity today also updated the market on its financial performance in the four months to May.
Like-for-like group revenue fell 8.6%, publishing sales dropped 8.5% and print declined 10.9%.
Print advertising revenues fell by 19% and circulation revenues by 4.5%.
However, digital grew by 15.7%. "We continue to see strong growth in digital audience with average monthly page views, excluding galleries, across the publishing sites growing by 22% to 755 million on a like for like basis," the company said.
