NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: January 2005
Sarah Pearce – MediaTel NewsLine 
The daily national newspaper market continued the downwards spiral in the six months to Janaurary 2005, with a overall 3.0% dip, according to the latest figures from the National Readership Survey.
Within the quality sector The Independent saw a 10% increase in readership figures and next week the publication will undergo a radical transformation, resulting in the Indybecoming a one section paper Monday to Friday (see Independent To Relaunch Next Tuesday).
The Daily Telegraph saw the largest decline in readership within the sector, dropping 4.4%, while the Financial Times and Guardian continued the downwards spiral, loosing 3.4% and 2.4% respectively.
Meanwhile, the mid market remained fairly stable, with the Daily Expressgaining a slight 0.1% in readership, while the Daily Mail lost just 0.1%.
The popular market saw the Daily Record loosing a massive 17.3% readership, whilst the Daily Star however, notched up a healthy 11.8%, enjoying the largest rise within the sector.
News International’s Sun declined by 4.5%, but still remains the market leader with an overall readership of over 8.4 million.
The nation’s Sunday newspapers also saw their readership figures for the six months to January 2005 drop, with an overall decrease of 4.0%.
Within the quality sector the Independent on Sunday dropped by 7.9%.
The Observer and Sunday Telegraph both showed an improvement in readership figures in the period, revealing increases of 2.5% and 0.6% respectively.
Mid market newspapers were the only section to show all round increases, with the Mail On Sunday gaining 4.4% and the Sunday Express a rise of 1.3%.
Elsewhere, the popular sundays all suffered a loss in readship, with the People dropping a dramatic 20.4%. The Sunday Mirror saw its readership decline by 11.6%, while the News of the World dipped 5.2%.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – January 2005 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Aug 03-Jan 04 | Aug 04-Jan 05 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,180,000 | 2,085,000 | -95,000 | -4.4 |
| Financial Times | 464,000 | 448,000 | -16,000 | -3.4 |
| Guardian | 1,148,000 | 1,121,000 | -27,000 | -2.4 |
| Independent | 548,000 | 603,000 | 55,000 | 10.0 |
| Times | 1,620,000 | 1,644,000 | 24,000 | 1.5 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 2,160,000 | 2,163,000 | 3,000 | 0.1 |
| Daily Mail | 5,724,000 | 5,720,000 | -4,000 | -0.1 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 4,741,000 | 4,327,000 | -414,000 | -8.7 |
| Daily Record | 1,431,000 | 1,183,000 | -248,000 | -17.3 |
| Daily Star | 1,710,000 | 1,912,000 | 202,000 | 11.8 |
| Sun | 8,832,000 | 8,432,000 | -400,000 | -4.5 |
| Total Daily | 30,558,000 | 29,638,000 | -920,000 | -3.0 |
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – January 2005 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Aug 03-Jan 04 | Aug 04-Jan 05 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 680,000 | 626,000 | -54,000 | -7.9 |
| Observer | 1,277,000 | 1,309,000 | 32,000 | 2.5 |
| Sunday Times | 3,433,000 | 3,414,000 | -19,000 | -0.6 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,992,000 | 2,003,000 | 11,000 | 0.6 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 6,139,000 | 6,408,000 | 269,000 | 4.4 |
| Sunday Express | 2,295,000 | 2,324,000 | 29,000 | 1.3 |
| Popular | ||||
| News Of The World | 9,437,000 | 8,945,000 | -492,000 | -5.2 |
| People | 2,450,000 | 1,949,000 | -501,000 | -20.4 |
| Sunday Mirror | 5,225,000 | 4,620,000 | -605,000 | -11.6 |
| Total Sunday | 32,928,000 | 31,598,000 | -1,330,000 | -4.0 |
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