Continued Conflict Hits Sunday Newspaper Sales
Sunday newspapers are believed to have seen sales slide by around half a million since the outbreak of war with Iraq, as people turn to television and the internet for news of the conflict.
A report in The Business claims that last Sunday 30 March saw an unprecedented slide of 500,000 in Sunday newspaper sales, a fall of 3.8% on the previous Sunday when the war had just begun.
Trade estimates suggest that between 23 and 30 March sales of Sunday papers fell from 12.9 million to 12.4 million. The decline was felt across the board with the Sunday Mirror slipping by 4.9% to 1.5 million, the Mail On Sunday declining by 3% to 2.2 million and the heavy-weight Sunday Times falling by 4.2% to 13.4 million.
It has been suggested that ‘war fatigue’ has set in among Sunday newspaper readers, who are getting so much information from the internet and rolling news channels that they no longer require the extensive coverage provided by Sunday newspapers.
Daily newspapers have suffered less than their Sunday counterparts, but the Mirror, with its tough anti-war stance, has reportedly seen weekday sales slip below the key 2 million mark to 1.97 million. The Guardian, which is also opposed to the war, has seen daily sales fall by 2.8% to 410,000.
The Sun and the pro-war Telegraph managed to control their losses. The former remained static at 3.5 million and the latter slipped by just 0.3% to 930,000, compared to a 1.7% decline at the anti-war Independent.
The Daily Mail is understood to have lost 1.1% of its sales in the first full week of fighting, while Rupert Murdoch’s Times fell by 1.8% to 659,000.
Only the Daily Star, which has dedicated little coverage to the war, has seen no change in its circulation over the past two weeks, with average daily sales rising slightly to 838,000.
The latest research from Hitwise shows that traffic to internet news sites shows no sign of slowing as the US led military attack against Iraq continues (see News Sites Show No Signs Of War Fatigue).
The Business: 0207 961 0082
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