The latest NRS figures for the six months to April 2003 reveal another impressive period for Richard Desmond’s Daily Star, which continues to shine with its no-nonsense approach to celebrity news and sport boosting readership.
The title outperformed its tabloid rivals during April, with readership increasing by a notable 31.5% year on year. The Sun managed a more modest rise during the same period to 9.1 million, but Trinity Mirror’s Daily Mirror proved less fortunate, with readership declining by 2.3% year on year, perhaps as readers tired with its hardline anti-war coverage of the conflict in Iraq.
Trinity Mirror is understood to have ruled out selling its national newspaper titles, which also include the People and the Sunday Mirror, following an extensive review of its business, instigated by the company’s new chief executive, Sly Bailey (see Trinity Mirror Rules Out Newspaper Sales).
Elsewhere, the Independent On Sunday and the Times saw the most significant upward movement in the broadsheet sector. At the other end of the scale, the Guardian and its Sunday sister, the Observer, saw readership shrink during the same period.
Things continued to look bleak for the Financial Times, which, despite a high-profile advertising campaign to promote its redesign (see FT Pushes Redesign With £2 Million Branding Campaign), experienced the most significant downward movement, with readership plummeting by 22.5% in the six months to May.
Associated Newspapers, which recently won its legal battle to prevent Richard Desmond from calling his new London newspaper the Evening Mail (see Associated Triumphs Over Desmond In Evening Mail Dispute), welcomed a year on year increase at its flagship Daily Mail. However, this was overshadowed by a 7.1% rise at mid-market rival, the Daily Express.
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