|

National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – September 1998

National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – September 1998

Quality Market In September, circulation across the broadsheet market was down by 3.3% to 5.63 million copies – a loss of 191,000 copies on April-September 1997. The drop in the quality market’s circulation was spread fairly evenly across the papers, with only the Financial Times and the Sunday Times recording any increase at all.

The Daily Telegraph lost over 40,000 copies year on year, and the Independent continues to slump – down by 16.25% to a circulation of 220,000. In the quality Sunday market, the Observer and the Sunday Telegraph both lost almost 55,000 copies year on year. The Observer last month appointed John Mulholland as its deputy editor; he was previously media editor at The Guardian (see John Mulholland Returns To Guardian Media Group). The Independent On Sunday‘s circulation fell from 282,019 to 255,811.

Quality Market Apr-Sep ’98 Year on Year ABC Comparisons

Title Apr 97 – Sep 97 Apr 98 – Sep 98 Actual Change % Change
Daily Telegraph 1,110,816 1,067,984 -42,832 -3.86
Financial Times 319,766 356,549 36,783 11.5
Guardian 410,641 394,614 -16,027 -3.9
Independent 263,716 220,853 -42,863 -16.25
Independent On Sunday 282,019 255,811 -26,208 -9.29
Observer 455,779 402,314 -53,465 -11.73
Sunday Telegraph 890,915 836,232 -54,683 -6.14
Sunday Times 1,330,542 1,339,640 9,098 0.68
Times 761,040 759,290 -1,750 -0.23
TOTAL 5,825,234 5,633,287 -191,947 -3.3

Mid Market As with previous months, the mid market story remains the same year on year: the Mail titles continue to improve circulation at the expense of the two Express newspapers. This pattern is also true month on month, where the Mail On Sunday reported the largest circulation growth across all the national newspapers. At the same time, however, the paper’s editor, Jonathon Holborrow, was dismissed at the end of September.

As admitted by the Mirror Group last week, the Mirror has for the first time fallen behind the Daily Mail in terms of circulation. During September the Mail sold 2.42 million copies, compared to the Mirror‘s 2.38 million.

Overall the mid market’s circulation remained steady at 6.76 million copies sold.

Mid Market Apr-Sep ’98 Year on Year ABC Comparisons

Title Apr 97 – Sep 97 Apr 98 – Sep 98 Actual Change % Change
Daily Mail 2,211,673 2,325,523 113,850 5.15
Express 1,224,850 1,142,063 -82,787 -6.76
Express On Sunday 1,169,844 1,051,432 -118,412 -10.12
Mail On Sunday 2,179,269 2,242,651 63,382 2.91
TOTAL 6,785,636 6,761,669 -23,967 -0.4

Popular Market The popular market continues to decline in this set of ABC figures, both year on year and month on month, although the losses are relatively slight. Overall, the market dropped by almost 830,000 copies compared to April-September 1997. However, this only accounts for 5.7% of the market.

The biggest was suffered by the Sunday Mirror, down by 12.2%, taking its circulation to just over two million. The News Of The World continues to lead the market, with sales of 4.23 million; the Sun sold an average of 3.69 million copies a day between April and September.

Popular Market Apr-Sep ’98 ABC Year on Year Comparisons

Title Apr 97 – Sep 97 Apr 98 – Sep 98 Actual Change % Change
Daily Star 734,431 660,181 -74,250 -10.11
Mirror 2,369,351 2,347,058 -22,293 -0.94
News Of The World 4,422,633 4,232,935 -189,698 -4.29
Sun 3,834,892 3,694,465 -140,427 -3.66
Sunday Mirror 2,290,518 2,010,474 -280,044 -12.23
Sunday People 1,924,541 1,742,922 -181,619 -9.44
TOTAL 15,576,366 14,688,035 -888,331 -5.7

National Newspaper August 1998 Month on Month ABC Comparisons

Title Aug98 Sep98 Actual Change % Ch
Daily Mail 2,312,285 2,421,319 109,034 4.72
Daily Star 664,233 661,750 -2,483 -0.37
Daily Telegraph 1,064,813 1,068,760 3,947 0.37
Express 1,151,583 1,147,581 -4,002 -0.35
Express On Sunday 1,072,858 1,057,071 -15,787 -1.47
Financial Times 358,019 351,969 -6,050 -1.69
Guardian 380,857 400,377 19,520 5.13
Independent 221,915 222,500 585 0.26
Independent On Sunday 256,826 257,773 947 0.37
Mail On Sunday 2,224,776 2,413,584 188,808 8.49
Mirror 2,377,782 2,380,824 3,042 0.13
News Of The World 4,294,318 4,265,006 -29,312 -0.68
Observer 387,342 405,545 18,203 4.7
Sun 3,707,471 3,730,402 22,931 0.62
Sunday Mirror 2,019,928 1,983,507 -36,421 -1.8
Sunday People 1,775,252 1,756,478 -18,774 -1.06
Sunday Telegraph 842,055 850,991 8,936 1.06
Sunday Times 1,322,537 1,400,992 78,455 5.93
Times 739,285 777,355 38,070 5.15
TOTAL 27,174,135 27,553,784 379,649 1.4

As the methodology for national newspaper supplements changed in July 1998, ABC advises caution when comparing figures for national newspapers and their supplements with earlier periods which were audited under the old rules.

Industry News Viscount Rothermere, proprietor of the Daily Mail, Mail On Sunday and the London Evening Standard, died at the age of 73 after a heart attack on 1 September 1998.

The Mirror Group restored Colin Myler to editor of the Sunday Mirror; he was previously editor of the paper between October 1992 and April 1994. The Mirror Group also launched a new sales initiative which will sell across all its national and regional newspapers.

The new editor of the The Observer, Roger Alton, instigated 17 redundancies at the Sunday paper, claiming they were ‘necessary cost cuts’.

Media Jobs