NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – December 2002
The latest NRS figures for the six months to December 2002 reveal a broadly positive period for overall national newspaper readership, which rose by 1.6% year on year to above the 67 million mark.
Recent coverprice rises in the broadsheet sector appear not to have affected readership, with notable gains for the majority of quality titles. The Independent and the Independent On Sunday recorded significant improvements between July and December last year, with the former seeing readership rise by 26.4% to 560,000 and the latter improving by 9.6% to 637,000.
The Times and The Sunday Times also experienced healthy increases, with the former bolstering its existing readership by 14.5% and its heavy-weight Sunday sibling seeing readership rise by 14.9 to just above 3.5 million. The Guardian and The Observer also saw notable increases in the six months to December, with readership climbing by 8.3% and 9.6% respectively. However, the Sunday Telegraph was the blackspot in the otherwise untarnished sector, with readership slipping by 4.9% year on year to just below 2 million.
The outlook was slightly more mixed for the tabloid sector, with the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror seeing readership falter by 5.8% and 3% respectively. The Sun, which is currently breaking in Rebakah Wade as its new editor (see New Sun Editor Says Job Is Best In Newspapers), outshone its closest rival with readership increasing by 5.3% to 9.7 million. However, its success was not shared by the News Of The World, which saw readership slip by 5.1% year on year to 9,913,000. The popularity of the Daily Star continued to grow in the six months to December, with readership improving by 15.2% to 1,830,000.
Elsewhere, the Daily Express and the Daily Mail increased their readership by 11.3% and 5.9% year on year, while the Financial Times suffered a 16.9% decline during the six months to December, bringing its readership to 547,000.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – December 2002 | ||||
| Title | Jul 01 – Dec 01 | Jul 02 – Dec 02 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 2,043,000 | 2,274,000 | 231,000 | 11.3 |
| Daily Mail | 5,690,000 | 6,024,000 | 334,000 | 5.9 |
| Daily Mirror | 5,706,000 | 5,374,000 | -332,000 | -5.8 |
| Daily Record | 1,613,000 | 1,502,000 | -111,000 | -6.9 |
| Daily Star | 1,589,000 | 1,830,000 | 241,000 | 15.2 |
| Daily Telegraph | 2,307,000 | 2,323,000 | 16,000 | 0.7 |
| Financial Times | 658,000 | 547,000 | -111,000 | -16.9 |
| Guardian | 1,187,000 | 1,286,000 | 99,000 | 8.3 |
| Independent | 443,000 | 560,000 | 117,000 | 26.4 |
| Independent On Sunday | 581,000 | 637,000 | 56,000 | 9.6 |
| Mail On Sunday | 5,987,000 | 6,155,000 | 168,000 | 2.8 |
| News Of The World | 10,445,000 | 9,913,000 | -532,000 | -5.1 |
| Observer | 1,100,000 | 1,206,000 | 106,000 | 9.6 |
| People | 3,089,000 | 2,849,000 | -240,000 | -7.8 |
| Sun | 9,216,000 | 9,704,000 | 488,000 | 5.3 |
| Sunday Express | 2,197,000 | 2,261,000 | 64,000 | 2.9 |
| Sunday Mirror | 5,409,000 | 5,247,000 | -162,000 | -3.0 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,092,000 | 1,989,000 | -103,000 | -4.9 |
| Sunday Times | 3,049,000 | 3,504,000 | 455,000 | 14.9 |
| Times | 1,662,000 | 1,903,000 | 241,000 | 14.5 |
| Total | 66,063,000 | 67,088,000 | 1,025,000 | 1.6 |
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