NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – July 2003
The latest national newspaper NRS readership figures for the six months ending July 2003 brought less than impressive news for Trinity Mirror’s flagship tabloids, The People and the Daily Mirror, which both suffered significant declines.
The People experienced a 21.4% year on year fall in readership, which fell below 3 million to just over 2.4 million. The Daily Mirror also experienced a 11.9% year on year drop to just above 4.8 million. The paper has faced mounting pressure following its hard-line anti-war coverage and in recent months it has been suggested the title has returned to its tabloid roots.
The Sunday Mirror, which recently re-vamped its offering, also experienced a blow, with readership dropping by 13.7% year on year to 4.7 million.
Meanwhile, News International’s flagship red-top, The Sun, suffered a notable year on year decline of 7.3% to just under 8.7 million. Its sister paper, The News Of The World, also had a less than impressive six months to July, falling 4.7% year on year to just under 9.5 million. However, the title easily retained its position as sector leader.
On a brighter note, the Daily Star continued to grow its readership with its mix of light-hearted gossip, celebrity coverage and sports.
Elsewhere, in the broadsheet market, seasonal declines weighed heavily. However, The Times, which recently unveiled a new Saturday package, bucked the broader sector declines, rising 9.8% year on year to just over 1.8 million. The Independent On Sunday also managed to increase its readership, which rose 14.2% year on year to 714,000.
However, the Sunday Times did not escape the broader market declines and its readership was eroded further, falling 1.2% to just over 3.2 million. The Sunday Telegraph also fell victim to the summer slump, dropping 3.3% year on year to just over 2 million.
The Daily Telegraph continued to suffer from a decline in readership, despite launching an extensive marketing campaign and special promotions in an attempt to increase the paper’s popularity. However, the ‘read a best-seller everyday’ strap-line could not stem a 5.5% year on year decline in readership, which fell to just under 2.3 million.
In the mid-market, the Daily Mail continued to grow its readership, which inched up 0.6% to just over 5.8 million, while the Mail On Sunday rose by 0.9% year on year.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – July 2003 | ||||
| Title | Feb-Jul 02 | Feb-Jul 03 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 2,072,000 | 1,993,000 | -79,000 | -3.8 |
| Daily Mail | 5,804,000 | 5,841,000 | 37,000 | 0.6 |
| Daily Mirror | 5,500,000 | 4,846,000 | -654,000 | -11.9 |
| Daily Record | 1,609,000 | 1,390,000 | -219,000 | -13.6 |
| Daily Star | 1,743,000 | 1,859,000 | 116,000 | 6.7 |
| Daily Star Sunday | n/a | 1,073,000 | n/a | n/a |
| Daily Telegraph | 2,398,000 | 2,265,000 | -133,000 | -5.5 |
| Financial Times | 596,000 | 495,000 | -101,000 | -16.9 |
| Guardian | 1,370,000 | 1,354,000 | -16,000 | -1.2 |
| Independent | 600,000 | 565,000 | -35,000 | -5.8 |
| Independent On Sunday | 625,000 | 714,000 | 89,000 | 14.2 |
| Mail On Sunday | 5,908,000 | 5,959,000 | 51,000 | 0.9 |
| News Of The World | 9,936,000 | 9,471,000 | -465,000 | -4.7 |
| Observer | 1,308,000 | 1,114,000 | -194,000 | -14.8 |
| People | 3,065,000 | 2,410,000 | -655,000 | -21.4 |
| Sun | 9,413,000 | 8,729,000 | -684,000 | -7.3 |
| Sunday Express | 2,084,000 | 2,282,000 | 198,000 | 9.5 |
| Sunday Mirror | 5,449,000 | 4,705,000 | -744,000 | -13.7 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,079,000 | 2,010,000 | -69,000 | -3.3 |
| Sunday Times | 3,288,000 | 3,250,000 | -38,000 | -1.2 |
| Times | 1,649,000 | 1,810,000 | 161,000 | 9.8 |
| Total | 66,496,000 | 64,135,000 | -2,361,000 | -3.6 |
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