National newspaper ABCs: Times and FT put in strong performances

Something a little unusual happened in the UK’s newspaper market last in March: a bout of month on month increases in circulations.

Every title in both the quality and mid markets recorded an uplift in sales, with The Times the best performing title with a 4.4% increase followed by the Financial Times, up 3.7%.

For the Times, that equated to an extra 17,818 copies and the FT more than 7,300.

March also witnessed the closure of the Independent – which bid farewell to a printed product and left for a new life entirely online. The title recorded a final print circulation of just under 55,000.

March also witnessed the Indy’s sister title, i, being handed over to new owners Johnston Press – who might feel a little nervous to witness only a slight 0.2% increase between February and March, and a drop of -1.3% drop over the year.

The closure of the Indy also means the Guardian (up 2.2% in March) is now the worst perfoming title in the quality sector with a circulation of 164,630.

Elsewhere, the mid-market remained stable, however the popular market recorded a few small drops – with the Daily Mirror worst hit, down -1% drop over the month.

Meanwhile, freesheet Metro (full UK foorprint) was entirely stable recording no change.

Overall, the entire daily market was up 0.7% period on period, and down -3.3% year on year.

Sunday Market

The Independent on Sunday, mourning its demise, recorded a 4.3% uplift in sales last month – with almost 4,000 extra copies flogged.

It was a stand-out performance in an otherwise stable quality market – which only recorded slight increases.

In the mid-market every title recorded slight period declines, although nothing too stressful. While the popular market witnessed only one increase – the Sun on Sunday with a 0.4% boost – every other title was down, with Trinity’s Sunday Mirror hardest hit, down -2.3%.

Overall, the Sunday market was down -0.3% period on period and down -5.8% over the year.