National Newspaper NRS Round-Up – May 2001
The NRS figures for the six month period ending May 2001 show a continued decline in national newspaper readership. The sector overall was down 3.7% compared to the same period last year with all but five titles losing readership.
The Daily Express continued to suffer, experiencing the greatest loss in terms of actual readership, dropping over 0.5m readers, bringing its total readership down to just over the 2m mark, a loss of 20.7%. The Independent On Sunday saw the largest percentage drop, with readership down 22.3% or 164,000, bringing total readership to just over 0.5m. The Sunday People also fared badly losing just over 4.5m readers with readership down to just over 3m, a loss of 12.9%.
Of the titles that managed to improve readership, the Financial Times saw the most significant increase, with readership rising by 7.1% or 42,000, to 634,000. The Sunday Telegraph also managed a modest rise upping readership by 2.2% or 45,000, bringing it to just above the 2m mark.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – May 2001 | ||||
| Title | Dec 99 – May 00 | Dec 00 – May 01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 2,536,000 | 2,012,000 | -524,000 | -20.7 |
| Daily Mail | 5,645,000 | 5,572,000 | -73,000 | -1.3 |
| Daily Record | 1,736,000 | 1,630,000 | -106,000 | -6.1 |
| Daily Star | 1,532,000 | 1,457,000 | -75,000 | -4.9 |
| Daily Telegraph | 2,335,000 | 2,293,000 | -42,000 | -1.8 |
| Financial Times | 592,000 | 634,000 | 42,000 | 7.1 |
| Guardian | 1,122,000 | 1,014,000 | -108,000 | -9.6 |
| Independent | 590,000 | 591,000 | 1,000 | 0.2 |
| Independent On Sunday | 736,000 | 572,000 | -164,000 | -22.3 |
| Mail On Sunday | 6,083,000 | 5,800,000 | -283,000 | -4.7 |
| Mirror | 5,643,000 | 5,714,000 | 71,000 | 1.3 |
| News Of The World | 10,251,000 | 10,274,000 | 23,000 | 0.2 |
| Observer | 1,097,000 | 1,053,000 | -44,000 | -4.0 |
| Sun | 9,401,000 | 9,542,000 | 141,000 | 1.5 |
| Sunday Express | 2,539,000 | 2,182,000 | -357,000 | -14.1 |
| Sunday Mirror | 5,925,000 | 5,685,000 | -240,000 | -4.1 |
| Sunday People | 3,540,000 | 3,083,000 | -457,000 | -12.9 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,011,000 | 2,056,000 | 45,000 | 2.2 |
| Sunday Times | 3,323,000 | 3,042,000 | -281,000 | -8.5 |
| Times | 1,671,000 | 1,623,000 | -48,000 | -2.9 |
| Total | 68,308,000 | 65,829,000 | -2,479,000 | -3.6 |
Subscribers can access the Press database by selecting “Press” from the drop-down box at the top of this page.