NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – July 2004
The Independent continued to see its readership increase year on year in the six months to July as the newspaper approached the first anniversary of launching its commuter friendly tabloid edition. However, the Guardian suffered a sharp decline, losing more than a quarter of its readership in the same period.
The latest NRS national newspaper figures for the six months to July show the Independent notching up a 21.2% increase year on year to 685,000, while the Guardian haemorrhaged readers in the same period to lose 25.8% to a total of just over a million.
The Guardian‘s loss represents a continued decline in readership for the newspaper, following a 25.7% year on year loss in June. However, the paper is working hard to improve its fortunes and has announced plans for a redesign, reducing its size to become the country’s first Berliner format title (see Guardian Takes Titles Compact With £50 Million Investment).
Also experiencing decline is the Times, losing 9% year on year in the six months to July to just over 1.6 million. The newspaper has seen less than impressive readership figures since launching a tabloid edition, but remains adamant of the advantages, publishing research showing an increased audience of young, upmarket readers (see Compact Times Proves Successful In Attracting New Readers).
Elsewhere, the nation’s daily tabloid newspapers fared better from the readership results, with News International’s market-leading Sun adding 4.6% year on year to just over 9.1 million. Arch rival the Daily Mirror also saw an increase, adding 0.5% to give a total of just under 4.9 million and performing well just two months since the departure of figurehead editor Piers Morgan (see Sacked Daily Mirror Editor Could Demand Compensation).
The Daily Star saw the largest readership increase amongst the daily tabloids, adding 6.9% year on year in the six months to July, but failed to breach the 2 million mark. The title’s Sunday sister title also performed well, adding 6.4% to just over 1.1 million, securing the joint best increase amongst Sunday papers with the Sunday Mirror.
The nation’s other Sunday titles also performed well, with all but the Sunday Express and the Sunday Times experiencing an increase in readership. While the Sunday Express lost 3.9% the Sunday Times fared slightly better, losing 3.2%.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – July 2004 | ||||
| Title | Feb 03- Jul 03 | Feb 04-Jul 04 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 1,993,000 | 2,087,000 | 94,000 | 4.7 |
| Daily Mail | 5,841,000 | 5,644,000 | -197,000 | -3.4 |
| Daily Mirror | 4,846,000 | 4,872,000 | 26,000 | 0.5 |
| Daily Record | 1,390,000 | 1,447,000 | 57,000 | 4.1 |
| Daily Star | 1,859,000 | 1,987,000 | 128,000 | 6.9 |
| Daily Star Sunday | 1,073,000 | 1,142,000 | 69,000 | 6.4 |
| Daily Telegraph | 2,265,000 | 2,265,000 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Financial Times | 495,000 | 447,000 | -48,000 | -9.7 |
| Guardian | 1,354,000 | 1,004,000 | -350,000 | -25.8 |
| Independent | 565,000 | 685,000 | 120,000 | 21.2 |
| Independent On Sunday | 714,000 | 715,000 | 1,000 | 0.1 |
| Mail On Sunday | 5,959,000 | 6,220,000 | 261,000 | 4.4 |
| News Of The World | 9,471,000 | 9,739,000 | 268,000 | 2.8 |
| Observer | 1,114,000 | 1,064,000 | -50,000 | -4.5 |
| People | 2,410,000 | 2,397,000 | -13,000 | -0.5 |
| Sun | 8,729,000 | 9,130,000 | 401,000 | 4.6 |
| Sunday Express | 2,282,000 | 2,192,000 | -90,000 | -3.9 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,705,000 | 5,005,000 | 300,000 | 6.4 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,010,000 | 2,109,000 | 99,000 | 4.9 |
| Sunday Times | 3,250,000 | 3,145,000 | -105,000 | -3.2 |
| Times | 1,810,000 | 1,647,000 | -163,000 | -9.0 |
| Total | 64,135,000 | 65,519,000 | 1,384,000 | 2.2 |
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