The Non-League Paper, which covers football outside the top four divisions, will save thousands of pounds each year following its decision to register as a consumer magazine rather than as a national newspaper.
Consumer titles are only audited by ABC twice a year, rather than once a month which, according to Martyn Gates, director of newspapers and consumer magazines at ABC, will lead to savings of around £11,500 a year in membership and auditing fees.
Another advantage of becoming a consumer magazine will be in attracting new advertisers, the paper claims.
NLP now sits alongside adult football titles FourFourTwo, World Soccer and Manchester United Magazine, which are all classed as consumer. NLP averages sales of more than 40,000 during the football season, which would make it second to FourFourTwo in UK sales.
David Emery, editor-in-chief of NLP, said: “The only reason a small paper would choose to have monthly ABC auditing is to attract advertisers, and our advertising is quite buoyant at the moment. It will also save us loads of money, which really makes a difference for a small publishing house.”
Published by Greenways Media, NLP has introduced a 32-page Conference Review section to its Sunday edition and raised its price 10p to £1.30.
NLP’s first set of figures registered as a consumer magazine will come out in February.
By Sarah Lagan
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