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May 11, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 7:15pm

‘Encouraging’ start for The Sportsman

By Press Gazette

The Sportsman, Britain's first new national daily newspaper in 20 years, has achieved a launch circulation of 21,500.

The sports betting paper claimed it has now established a "significant beach-head" and was well on its way to achieving a break-even circulation of 40,000 by the end of the year.

The paper was launched on 22 March.

The launch ABC sales figure is for April.

Sportsman chairman Jeremy Deedes said: "We are encouraged by April's sales figure in a month when sales were a secondary concern to promotion and visibility.

"Now we know exactly where we are, we can embark on sales beyond the newsstands themselves — like the foreign gambling centres, corporate hospitality and direct to the racing and betting industry as we gear up for the all-important World Cup. We are also steadily improving the distribution of the paper."

Sales of established betting daily, the Racing Post, are not understood to have suffered much since The Sportsman's launch.

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A spokesman said: "Our assessment is that The Sportsman has only had a marginal impact on the Racing Post's sale, probably at the lower end of our early estimates of one to three per cent."

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