Paid for weekly newspaper launches in Wales

The National launched in Wales on St David’s Day as a digital news service and with a special launch print edition. A second edition — an election special focusing on the upcoming Senedd contest — was published earlier this month.

News retailers have welcomed the decision to introduce a new paid for weekly printed title. Newport roundsman, Jonathan Powell, said: “I sold 25 copies of the first edition, which is brilliant for a new title, and I had a great response with people phoning to ask for it. I expect people to take it every week and it means extra money for us, which is great.”

Gavin Thompson, editor of The National, added: “Sales of the launch edition exceeded our expectations and we have had an overwhelming positive response to the second edition, too, so have now decided to take the print title weekly.

“Our long-term goal for this title remains to build a sustainable quality online news title for Wales, based on digital subscriptions, but we can also now see that there is a strong appetite for it in print.”