Key developments included the introduction of the Irish Farmers Journal news app in July 2015 and the resourcing of the new digital online desk, which now publishes daily farming news and analysis on farmersjournal.ie from 7am to 9pm, seven days a week. This has led to 40% more stories being published.

Finally, in January 2016, the Irish Farmers Journal launched a new innovation into the Irish market by rewarding print readers with full digital access to farmersjournal.ie and to the app using a unique loyalty code printed in each copy of the paper.

The Irish Farmers Journal is the definitive source of both news and technical farming advice whether this is consumed in print, on a mobile or on farmersjournal.tv.

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Justin McCarthy, editor and CEO, commented: “Our team have worked hard to develop our print and digital offering to ensure that the Irish Farmers Journal is the definitive source of both news and technical farming advice whether this is consumed in print, on a mobile or on farmersjournal.tv. Furthermore, the launch of our unique loyalty code innovation in January 2016 is a massive leap in terms of rewarding our print readers with free access to additional online information daily and is central to our strategy of using digital technology to ‘bring the pages of our newspaper to life’. We are committed to driving the digital agenda among the farming community and continuing to give them the information they need to farm successfully.”

Unique website users up 86%

These innovations have led to very significant website traffic growth in 2015 with unique website users growing by 86% and page views growing by 62% on the previous year. There are now over 200,000 unique visitors visiting more than one million pages each month at farmersjournal.ie.

In addition, app downloads are approaching 15,000, while usage of Facebook (69,000 likes), Twitter (18,800 followers), Snapchat, Whatsapp, YouTube and Instagram have all contributed to this growth in traffic.

Print circulation sales for the Irish Farmers Journal for the July to December 2015 ABC period was 66,041 copies per issue. Given the growth we have seen in digital engagement over the past 12 months, we feel that this result is testimony to the quality and uniqueness of the content our team of specialists and news journalists produce.

This digital audience growth reflects the Irish Farmers Journal strategy to grow our audience both in print and digitally and serve the mission of the brand – to enhance the competitiveness of Irish farming and the wellbeing of those engaged in the sector.

We are confident that as we bring new innovations to market over the next 12 months, we will continue to grow the overall audience of the Irish Farmers Journal further.

Irish Country Magazine reaches number one

We are also delighted that the latest ABC figures have placed our sister publication, Irish Country Magazine, as the number one female interest magazine in Ireland. This is a tremendous success and credit to the team after just four years of publishing.

About the Irish Farmers Journal

The Irish Farmers Journal is published by The Agricultural Trust (which is a company limited by guarantee). Its only mandate is to provide the best possible technical support, market information and news to the agricultural sector.

The company does not have a share capital. All profits are invested in meeting the Trust’s objectives – to enhance the competitiveness of Irish farming and the wellbeing of those engaged in the sector.