An unprecedented 10 tabloid newspapers are now available on Sundays in the Republic, with the Star the latest entrant into a fiercely competitive market.
About 170,000 copies of the Irish Daily Star on Sunday hit shops throughout Ireland yesterday, with newsagents reporting strong sales for the new arrival. The paper closely resembles the daily edition of the Star, but the production is more complex and stories are given greater length. The newspaper was printed at the Irish Times Ltd's print facility in Citywest, Co Dublin.
In an attempt to entice buyers, the Star included a free music CD and a 56-page celebrity magazine. However, its rivals did not allow the new title a clear run in the newsagents, with papers such as Ireland on Sunday also including a free CD.
Readers increasingly have to choose between CDs rather than newspapers when they go to the newsagent. Whereas the Irish Daily Star on Sunday was offering eight tracks on its CD, Ireland on Sunday was able to offer 20 rock songs.
Despite this fierce rivalry, the managing director of the Star, Mr Paul Cooke, said readers wanted alternatives.
"A lot of our weekly readers were happy to have the chance to purchase the Sunday edition. Our feedback from newsagents is the market expanded today. People picked up our paper in large numbers, but they also picked up copies of the Sunday World and Ireland on Sunday. We are very happy with the look of the paper and while it is deliberately similar to the daily edition, it is a more leisurely read," he said.
Mr Cooke said the paper's publisher, Independent Star Ltd, was hoping to match the circulation of the daily edition at 113,000 copies. "We would be happy with sales of that scale, but it is much too early at this stage to say how today went."