NRS January-June’92 Commentary
The latest NRS figures for January to June’92 hold few surprises with most titles following well established patterns. A number of titles no longer publish 6-monthly figures, for these a figure for July’91 to June’92 is reported.
Daily Newspapers
As with the January to June circulation figures only a small minority of the national newspapers achieved year-on- year increases. The largest readership increase among the dailies was recorded by the Evening Standard, up by 8.3% on January to June’91 to 1,228,000. Today also bucked the general trend with an increase of 7.6% to 1,428,000. The only other daily to show a readership increase was the Daily Telegraph, up by 1.6%.
The Guardian and The Independent recorded the greatest drops with both titles falling by 10.7% to 1,087,000 and 992,000 respectively.
Sundays Among the Sunday Newspapers the mid market titles faired best with the Mail on Sunday rising by 7.2% to 5,793,000 and the Sunday Express rising by 3.7% to 4,733,000. The Sunday Express will be hoping to close the gap on the Mail on Sunday in the next reporting period which will take in its move to tabloid format.
The Sunday Telegraph followed the path of its daily counterpart and recorded an increase in readership of 3.5% year on year. The Sunday Times managed a slight increase of 0.3% to 3,556,000.
Readerships for the Sunday Sport, Observer and People all continued to decline dramatically.
Women’s Weeklies
Woman’s Own, Bella and Take a Break are firmly established at the top of the readership table for women’s weekly magazines. Take a Break recorded the largest increase in this group, up by 20.9% to 2,734,000.
Hello’s readership continued to rise although its rate of increase has slowed considerably suggesting it is beginning to reach its peak. Its January to June’92 figure is 1,044,000 up by 16.8% year-on-year.
My Guy , one of the titles now reporting annual figures, managed an increase of 15.3% to 196,000. However, this was not sufficient to lift the magazine from its place at the bottom of the women’s weeklies group.
The largest readership fall in this group was recorded by Peoples Friend, down by 18.5% to 1,207,000.
Women’s Monthlies
Country Homes and Interiors achieved the highest increase among the women’s monthlies, up by almost 49.1% to 483,000. Other notable increases were recorded by Traditional Homes, up 20.0% to 168,000, Marie Claire, up 18.2% to 661,000, and New Woman, up 16.9% to 559,000.
Substantial falls in readership were recorded by Harpers & Queen, down 25.7% to 404,000, and Vogue, down by 20.4% to 1,203,000. General Weeklies The TV listings magazines are now well rooted at the top of the general weeklies table, with the Radio Times readership of 5,506,000 leading the field. A considerable gap is appearing between the Radio Times and Tv Times, which reported a figure of 4,792,000.
TV Quick and What’s on Tv achieved readerships of 2,813,000 and 2,493,000 respectively. The TV listings magazines have no figures for comparison as reporting was temporarily suspended when deregulation took place. The Weekly News, NME and Auto Express all were among those with readership falls of more than 20%.
General Monthlies
Among the general monthlies the gardening magazines achieved favourable results. BBC Gardener’s world now has the third highest readership figure of all the general monthlies, 1,662,000. Garden Answers rose by 62.0% to 392,000, The Gardener rose by 20.1% to 413,000 and The Garden rose by 10.6% to 313,000. All of these three are now reporting annual figures.
General weeklies to record substantial falls in readership included Do It Yourself, down 33.0%, Custom Car, down 20.2% and Sky, down 19.2%.
A number of titles are no longer included on the NRS which have been previously. These are The European, Motoring News, Motor Sport, Dimensions and Moneycare.