National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – August 1999
Month On Month
Month on month comparisons of the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation show that all but seven national newspaper recorded increases in circulation. The Mail On Sunday took on more than 68,569 new sales during the month, and the Sport First enjoyed an 44.9% rise in its circulation.
The Sunday People sustained the heaviest actual losses of all the nationals year on year, dropping 128,675.
National Newspaper August 1999 ABC Month on Month Comparisons
| Title | Jul-99 | Aug-99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Mail | 2,368,240 | 2,366,713 | -1,527 | -0.1 |
| Daily Record | 630,028 | 643,713 | 13,685 | 2.2 |
| Daily Star | 529,705 | 532,096 | 2,391 | 0.5 |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,036,641 | 1,042,382 | 5,741 | 0.6 |
| Express | 1,081,836 | 1,083,209 | 1,373 | 0.1 |
| Financial Times | 388,723 | 383,842 | -4,881 | -1.3 |
| Guardian | 384,249 | 376,855 | -7,394 | -1.9 |
| Independent | 221,197 | 222,200 | 1,003 | 0.5 |
| Independent On Sunday | 235,740 | 239,181 | 3,441 | 1.5 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,292,455 | 2,261,401 | -31,054 | -1.4 |
| Mirror | 2,394,485 | 2,374,098 | -20,387 | -0.9 |
| News Of The World | 4,028,157 | 4,096,726 | 68,569 | 1.7 |
| Observer | 386,504 | 381,101 | -5,403 | -1.4 |
| Racing Post | 78,313 | 75,460 | -2,853 | -3.6 |
| Scotland on Sunday | 107,468 | 111,805 | 4,337 | 4.0 |
| Scotsman | 74,663 | 79,962 | 5,299 | 7.1 |
| Sport First | 66,751 | 96,686 | 29,935 | 44.9 |
| Sun | 3,633,127 | 3,685,645 | 52,518 | 1.5 |
| Sunday Business | 54,550 | 53,863 | -687 | -1.3 |
| Sunday Express | 992,478 | 1,006,800 | 14,322 | 1.4 |
| Sunday Mail | 752,158 | 769,028 | 16,870 | 2.2 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,982,142 | 2,009,384 | 27,242 | 1.4 |
| Sunday People | 1,602,977 | 1,624,604 | 21,627 | 1.4 |
| Sunday Sport | 204,984 | 205,496 | 512 | 0.3 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 815,485 | 828,027 | 12,542 | 1.5 |
| Sunday Times | 1,288,728 | 1,293,489 | 4,761 | 0.4 |
| Times | 704,729 | 709,546 | 4,817 | 0.7 |
| Total | 28,845,575 | 29,054,717 | 209,142 | 0.7 |
Year On Year
Quality Market
The Financial Times, again enjoyed the biggest actual and proportional year on year circulation increase. Year on year the newspaper increase its circulation by 8%, with an actual rise of 28,477. The next best performances come from market leader Sunday Times, which increased it sales by 14,980 and The Independent, which rose by 1.9%.
Quality Market Mar-Aug 1999 YoY ABC Comparisons
| Title | Mar98-Aug98 | Mar99-Aug99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,069,387 | 1,043,988 | -25,399 | -2.4 |
| Financial Times | 357,703 | 386,180 | 28,477 | 8.0 |
| Guardian | 395,596 | 392,617 | -2,979 | -0.8 |
| Independent | 219,779 | 223,879 | 4,100 | 1.9 |
| Independent On Sunday | 255,534 | 245,269 | -10,265 | -4.0 |
| Observer | 403,026 | 395,385 | -7,641 | -1.9 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 834,934 | 819,205 | -15,729 | -1.9 |
| Sunday Times | 1,332,744 | 1,347,724 | 14,980 | 1.1 |
| Times | 760,427 | 727,083 | -33,344 | -4.4 |
| Total | 5,629,130 | 5,581,330 | -47,800 | -4.4 |
Mid Market
There were mixed fortunes for the big two mid market newspapers, both Express titles droped sales, whiles their Mail rivals saw increases. The Mail On Sunday increased it circulation by 2.8%, with 61,352 more copies sold. The Sunday Express lost 5.1% of its sales, dropping 53,537 copies year on year.
Mid Market Mar-Aug 1999 YoY ABC Comparisons
| Title | Mar98-Aug98 | Mar99-Aug99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Mail | 2,311,242 | 2,357,466 | 46,224 | 2.0 |
| Express | 1,146,040 | 1,090,891 | -55,149 | -4.8 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,207,905 | 2,269,257 | 61,352 | 2.8 |
| Sunday Express | 1,053,540 | 1,000,003 | -53,537 | -5.1 |
| Total | 6,718,727 | 6,717,617 | -1,110 | -5.1 |
Popular Market
The News Of The World continues to be the UK’s favourite national newspaper with a circulation of over 4.1 million, despite its circualtion dropping by 126,080 sales.
The Racing Post continues to increase its circulation by the biggest margin, rising 17.6% year on year. The Mirror, which recently merged with Trinity newspapers (see Sporting Life To Close), had a slight increase in circulation, up 507 copies.
Popular Market Mar-Aug 1999 YoY ABC Comparisons
| Title | Mar98-Aug98 | Mar99-Aug99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Record | 673,438 | 648,617 | -24,821 | -3.7 |
| Daily Star | 571,755 | 523,699 | -48,056 | -8.4 |
| Mirror | 2,340,616 | 2,341,123 | 507 | 0.0 |
| News Of The World | 4,257,473 | 4,131,393 | -126,080 | -3.0 |
| Racing Post | 68,714 | 80,816 | 12,102 | 17.6 |
| Sun | 3,700,609 | 3,714,291 | 13,682 | 0.4 |
| Sunday Mirror | 2,014,829 | 1,974,268 | -40,561 | -2.0 |
| Sunday People | 1,744,930 | 1,616,255 | -128,675 | -7.4 |
| Sunday Sport | 247,284 | 210,126 | -37,158 | -15.0 |
| Total | 15,619,648 | 15,240,588 | -379,060 | -21.5 |
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