National Newspaper ABC Round-Up -March 2001
Month on Month
The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) has released national newspaper circulation data for March 2001. Total circulation across all titles fell by 1.1% month on month, with eight titles seeing slippage in their individual circulations.
The largest gains were at the Sunday Express, which added nearly 90,000 or 9.9%. However, so far Richard Desmond’s efforts to pull the Daily Express back above the million mark have failed, as a 2.5% increase was not quite enough.
The Racing Post was the worst performer month on month, dropping 4.8% or just over 3,000. Also suffering was the Sport First, where its circulation has dropped by 3.7%.
| National Newspaper March 2001 ABC Monthly Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Feb 2001 | Mar 2001 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 950,523 | 974,414 | 23,891 | 2.5 |
| Daily Mail | 2,394,052 | 2,403,754 | 9,702 | 0.4 |
| Daily Record | 601,639 | 602,249 | 610 | 0.1 |
| Daily Star | 556,502 | 569,883 | 13,381 | 2.4 |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,010,620 | 1,019,290 | 8,670 | 0.9 |
| Financial Times | 476,341 | 503,766 | 27,425 | 5.8 |
| Guardian | 396,886 | 399,696 | 2,810 | 0.7 |
| Independent | 223,958 | 225,606 | 1,648 | 0.7 |
| Independent On Sunday | 251,124 | 252,104 | 980 | 0.4 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,318,537 | 2,404,238 | 85,701 | 3.7 |
| Mirror | 2,212,073 | 2,189,085 | -22,988 | -1.0 |
| News Of The World | 3,992,556 | 4,001,054 | 8,498 | 0.2 |
| Observer | 443,198 | 451,834 | 8,636 | 1.9 |
| Racing Post | 71,519 | 68,061 | -3,458 | -4.8 |
| Sport First | 79,901 | 76,914 | -2,987 | -3.7 |
| Sun | 3,494,108 | 3,514,787 | 20,679 | 0.6 |
| Sunday Business | 53,571 | 57,948 | 4,377 | 8.2 |
| Sunday Express | 875,724 | 962,707 | 86,983 | 9.9 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,879,867 | 1,845,231 | -34,636 | -1.8 |
| Sunday People | 1,446,996 | 1,415,129 | -31,867 | -2.2 |
| Sunday Sport | 196,147 | 193,723 | -2,424 | -1.2 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 805,385 | 812,452 | 7,067 | 0.9 |
| Sunday Times | 1,394,381 | 1,371,785 | -22,596 | -1.6 |
| Times | 723,228 | 715,079 | -8,149 | -1.1 |
| Total | 27,159,897 | 26,848,836 | 158,062 | -1.1 |
Year on Year
Quality Market
Once again the quality market managed to create a positive sales picture, year on year, with a 1% increase in circulation.
The Financial Times and the Observer appear to be leading the upturn, with the Observer seeing an 8.1% increase to sail past the 445,000 mark, while the FT added 8.9%, or nearly 40,000 to reach nearly 485,000.
The fortunes of the Sunday Business continue to look shaky, with a 17.7% year on year drop reducing its circulation to just 55,000. The Telegraph titles also saw less dramatic losses in the year on year comparison.
| Quality Market Oct 00 – Mar 01 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Oct 99 – Mar 00 | Oct 00 – Mar 01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,032,745 | 1,016,105 | -16,640 | -1.6 |
| Financial Times | 445,145 | 484,845 | 39,700 | 8.9 |
| Guardian | 398,276 | 398,536 | 260 | 0.1 |
| Independent | 224,935 | 229,550 | 4,615 | 2.1 |
| Independent On Sunday | 251,901 | 253,834 | 1,933 | 0.8 |
| Observer | 411,691 | 445,119 | 33,428 | 8.1 |
| Sunday Business | 67,269 | 55,395 | -11,874 | -17.7 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 819,167 | 805,235 | -13,932 | -1.7 |
| Sunday Times | 1,368,173 | 1,391,437 | 23,264 | 1.7 |
| Times | 723,561 | 720,446 | -3,115 | -0.4 |
| Total | 5,742,863 | 5,800,502 | 57,639 | 1.0 |
Mid Market Titles
The mid market titles saw a year on year dip in total circulation of 0.5%. There was a marked divide between publishers, with the Daily Mail and Sunday Mail seeing modest increases of 1.2% and 1% respectively, while the Daily Express and Sunday Express dropped 4.6% and 4.2% respectively, clearly still struggling to find an editorial direction to counteract their long-term decline.
| Mid Market Oct 00 – Mar 01 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Oct 99 – Mar 00 | Oct 00 – Mar 01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 1,043,756 | 996,047 | -47,709 | -4.6 |
| Daily Mail | 2,366,645 | 2,395,898 | 29,253 | 1.2 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,313,601 | 2,336,513 | 22,912 | 1.0 |
| Sunday Express | 968,886 | 928,598 | -40,288 | -4.2 |
| Total | 6,692,888 | 6,657,056 | -35,832 | -0.5 |
Popular Market
The popular market took a significant dip in the year on year analysis, dropping 2.9% or well over 400,000 readers. Worst hit in percentage terms was Sport First, whose loss of over 9,000 in circulation represented a 10% fall. In terms of actual numbers, the worst were the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, which dropped over 108,000 each, a harder hit for the latter title in percentage terms.
The Daily Star was the only exception to the downward rule, adding just under 38,000 to its circulation base, a year on year increase of 7.1%.
| Popular Market Octt 00 – Mar 01 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Oct 99 – Mar 00 | Oct 00 – Mar 01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Record | 630,408 | 603,236 | -27,172 | -4.3 |
| Daily Star | 512,382 | 550,335 | 37,953 | 7.4 |
| Mirror | 2,261,643 | 2,182,572 | -79,071 | -3.5 |
| News Of The World | 4,087,512 | 3,985,639 | -101,873 | -2.5 |
| Racing Post | 75,242 | 71,034 | -4,208 | -5.6 |
| Sport First | 90,542 | 81,365 | -9,177 | -10.1 |
| Sun | 3,553,462 | 3,524,268 | -29,194 | -0.8 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,966,810 | 1,858,051 | -108,759 | -5.5 |
| Sunday People | 1,566,696 | 1,457,438 | -109,258 | -7.0 |
| Sunday Sport | 205,583 | 197,100 | -8,483 | -4.1 |
| Total | 14,950,280 | 14,511,038 | -439,242 | -2.9 |
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