National newspaper ABCs: Sun on Sunday sales down 75,000

They say no news is good news, so the majority of national newspapers can probably breathe a sigh of relief as the market remained fairly flat in February.

Daily market

Of all the daily titles, the Sun (-2.5%) and Daily Mirror (-2.1%) were hardest hit; however the Sun remains the best-selling title with more than 1.74 million sales.

The Independent, which will close its print operations at the end of March and move wholly online, saw circulation slide -1.8%, as did the Guardian, with the Indy looking to finish its 30-year run with a little over 54,000 sales.

Slightly better news for the Daily Express, which was up 1.1% over the month to 413,100, while other mid-market title Daily Mail was down -1.7% to drop a little over 27,000 copies.

Overall the daily market was down -1.2% period on period and -3.8% year on year.

Free press, London market

Small circulation gains for City A.M. (0.7%) and the Evening Standard (0.4%) meant that the free press market was up 0.2% on the previous month, with a -0.1% decline in Metro London circulation making little difference.

However, City A.M. was down -9.3% over the year, dropping a little over 10,000 free copies.

Sunday market

Following suit with its daily counterpart, Sun on Sunday recorded the biggest decline in circulation in February, down -5% and losing almost 75,000 copies.

The Sunday Mail and Sunday Mirror, also in the popular market, were also down -3.4% and -2.2%, respectively.

In the quality market, the Independent on Sunday was down -1.5% to 90,200, while the Observer and Telegraph recorded very small gains.

But it was Sunday People that saw the greatest increase in sales at 1%.

Overall the market was down -1.7% over the period and -6.3% over the year.