ABCs February 2015: a gruelling month for newspapers

The Daily Telegraph, which caused a media storm last month when its chief political editor resigned, accusing the paper of improper editorial standards to protect its advertising revenue, could be feeling the sting: a drop in circulation of more than 14,700 copies.

The latest ABC figures show a -3% drop in circulation, period on period, during a month in which the title was heavily criticised for its lack of coverage over HSBC Swiss tax-dodging allegations. The title now has a circulation of 479,937 – an all time low.

However, given the ABC reporting period ended on 22 February, and that the entire market witnessed monthly declines, it might take another month to truly assess if the scandal has had any real impact.

The Guardian certainly couldn’t capitalise on its rival’s woes, however, recording a period on period decline of -5%, amounting to 9,300 fewer copies sold as its print business continues its steady decline.

Elsewhere in the newspaper market, it was decidedly a gruelling month. After a rocky start to the year, February only saw a continuation of negative growth with all but one title recording circulation gains.

However, at just 0.1%, the Daily Star’s growth was nothing to write home about, and amounted to only 368 extra copies being sold between January and February.

The only positive news can be reported when looking at the longer-term figures, with the Times, despite seeing a decline in February, recording year on year growth.

The Times was up 1.8%, year on year, and sold an extra 6,900 copies, whilst the Sun saw an 8.7% year on year increase shift more than 147,000 papers.

However, over the month, the Sun put in the worst performance – dropping 136,418 copies (-6.9%). Whether the paper’s Page 3 furore has impacted sales, or whether the shorter month is just showing poorer-than-usual results, will have to wait until the next audit.

No other title in the daily market recorded any yearly gains, with the Daily Star actually performing the worst with a -11.7% drop (-56,500 copies), followed by the Guardian with a -10.3 decrease – amounting to 20,000 fewer issues sold than in the same period in 2014.

Sunday Market

It was an even worse picture in the Sunday market, with every title recording declines.

Overall, the entire market was down -2.5%, period on period, and down almost -10% year on year. The worst performing title in February was the Sun on Sunday, down -5.8% (amounting to -92,417 copies).

The Sunday Mirror was also down, dropping -26,980 (-3.1%), whilst the Sunday Telegraph, putting in the third worst monthly performance, dropped -2.3%, selling 8,930 fewer copies.