ABC Regional Newspaper Circulation
The latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) show that the majority of the top ten regional titles saw a year on year decline in circulation.
The paper with the highest ABC circulation for the period January to June 2001 was the Manchester Evening News, with 169,312. However, this was a year on year decrease of well over 7,000 copies. However, the Evening News’ fall of 4.4% was not the worst among the leading titles: The Birmingham Evening Mail saw a 6.4% drop, but managed to achieve the third largest circulation, and the Leicester Mercury slipped 7.3%, or more than 8,000 to a circulation this year of just under 128,000.
The only exception to the downward trend was Dublin’s Irish Times, which seems to be riding the tide of its home city’s booming fortunes with its own burgeoning circulation. A year on year increase of 2.7% brought it up to 119,252 and a place among the top four title by circulation.
| Top 10 Regional Newspapers By Circulation | ||||
| Title | Jul 99 – Dec 99 | Jul 00 – Dec 00 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Manchester Evening News (Mon-Fri) | 176051 | 168,312 | -7,739 | -4.4 |
| Liverpool Echo (Mon-Fri) | 155,848 | 150,940 | -4,908 | -3.1 |
| Birmingham Evening Mail (Mon-Fri) | 136,743 | 127,983 | -8,760 | -6.4 |
| Irish Times (Dublin) | 116,061 | 119,252 | 3,191 | 2.7 |
| Belfast Telegraph | 114,961 | 111,329 | -3,632 | -3.2 |
| Leicester Mercury (inc Workplace Weekly) | 114,205 | 105,911 | -8,294 | -7.3 |
| Evening Herald (Dublin) | 106,726 | 104,288 | -2,438 | -2.3 |
| Glasgow – Evening Times (Mon-Fri) | 106,839 | 103,126 | -3,713 | -3.5 |
| Newcastle Evening Chronicle (Mon-Fri) | 107,346 | 101,458 | -5,888 | -5.5 |
| Sunday Mercury (Birmingham) | 105,556 | 100,407 | -5,149 | -4.9 |
| Source: ABC | ||||
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