NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: July 2006
Daily Newspaper Market
National daily newspapers have endured another difficult period, with readership down by almost 8% year on year for the six months to July, according to the latest NRS figures.
Almost all titles suffered a downturn, with Popular and Mid Market titles seeing the worst decline in readership. The Daily Mirror recorded the biggest loss of readers in real terms, shedding more than 480,000 readers to leave the title with a total readership of 3.6 million, whilst the Daily Star lost almost 24% of its readership to leave it with 1.4 million readers.
The Independent was the only newspaper to buck the trend, boosting its readership by more than 10%. The title’s readership now stands at 753,000, having gained 70,000 new readers. The Times dropped just over 1% of its readers year on year, with its readership now resting at 1.8 million.
Quality Daily Titles
There were somewhat mixed results for the Quality dailies, with most papers experiencing a deterioration in their readership and just one title bucking the overall trend of decline.
Market-leader the Daily Telegraph shed more than 160,000 readers, a 7.4% downturn, while The Times saw a marginal fall in readers by just over 1%, or 20,000, leaving its readership at 1.8 million.
The biggest percentage upturn in readership was for the Independent, which pushed its audience up by 10.2% or 70,000 readers, which gives the paper an estimated readership of 753,000.
The Guardian felt a sharp decline in its readership, with a loss of 112,000 readers, down almost 9% year on year.
Mid Market Daily Titles
The Mid Market titles had a bad six months from February to July year on year, with both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail seeing steep downturns in their readerships.
The Mail lost 380,000 readers or almost 7%, but remains by far the market leader with a sizeable readership of 5.2 million. The Daily Express also had a worrying six months, losing 11.5% or more than 220,000 of its readership, giving it an estimated 1.7 million readers.
Popular Daily Titles
All popular titles lost readers in the six-month period year on year, with some faring worse than others.
Popular behemoth the Sun, now with a readership of around 7.5 million, lost 4% of its audience, an actual drop of 312,000, while the Daily Star felt the worse percentage downturn, dropping almost a quarter of its readers to leave the title’s readership at 1.4 million.
The worst actual decline came for the Daily Mirror, which saw readership slip by more than 480,000 year on year, leaving it with a readership of 3.6 million. There was also bad news for the Daily Record whose readership fell by almost 14%, an actual loss of almost 180,000, giving the title a total readership of around 1.1 million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – July 2006 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Feb 05-Jul 05 | Feb 06-Jul 06 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,239,000 | 2,073,000 | -166,000 | -7.4 |
| Guardian | 1,256,000 | 1,144,000 | -112,000 | -8.9 |
| Independent | 683,000 | 753,000 | 70,000 | 10.2 |
| Times | 1,837,000 | 1,817,000 | -20,000 | -1.1 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,946,000 | 1,722,000 | -224,000 | -11.5 |
| Daily Mail | 5,583,000 | 5,203,000 | -380,000 | -6.8 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 4,112,000 | 3,630,000 | -482,000 | -11.7 |
| Daily Record | 1,284,000 | 1,105,000 | -179,000 | -13.9 |
| Daily Star | 1,925,000 | 1,465,000 | -460,000 | -23.9 |
| Sun | 7,896,000 | 7,584,000 | -312,000 | -4.0 |
| Total Daily | 28,761,000 | 26,496,000 | -2,265,000 | -7.88 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday newspaper market saw readership fall by 5.3% across all sectors, with only two titles recording year on year increases in the period from February to July.
The Independent On Sunday and the Observer recorded year on year increases of 33,000 and 221,000 respectively.
Both Mid Market titles, the Mail On Sunday and the Sunday Express, lost readers, with the Express having a total readership figure of two million.
In the Popular sector, the News Of The World felt the smallest readership decline in percentage terms, of 4.5%, retaining its position as the most read Sunday paper in the UK.
Quality Sunday Titles
In the Quality sector, the Independent On Sunday and the Observer recorded year on year increases in readership of 4.3% and 17.2% respectively. The titles now command readerships of 803,000 and 1.5 million.
However, the rest of the sector was down, with the Sunday Telegraph seeing the biggest year on year decline in both percentage and real terms, shedding 150,000 readers, around 7%.
The Sunday Times recorded a decline of 2.6% year on year, although it remained the most read of the Quality titles, with a total figure of more than 3.5 million.
Mid Market Sunday Titles
The Sunday Mid Market titles suffered year on year declines, with the Sunday Express suffering the largest fall percentage wise, of 9.3%. The title’s readership now rests at almost two million.
However, market leader the Mail On Sunday recorded the biggest decline of the Mid Market titles in real terms, of 330,000, although it was still left with a total readership of over six million.
Popular Sunday Titles
In the Popular sector, the Daily Star Sunday felt the biggest percentage drop, of around 15% year on year, leaving it with a total figure of 918,000.
Market leader the News Of The World had less readers year on year for the six-month period up to July, with 383,000 readers departing the red-top to leave its readership at around 8.2 million.
The Sunday Mirror suffered the largest readership decline in the Popular sector in real terms, of 455,000 year on year, although it was left with a total figure of over 4.1 million.
The People recorded a 10.3% decline year on year, which saw its total readership figure for the period to July fall to around 1.7 million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – July 2006 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Feb 05-Jul 05 | Feb 06-Jul 06 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday | 770,000 | 803,000 | 33,000 | 4.3 |
| Observer | 1,282,000 | 1,503,000 | 221,000 | 17.2 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,112,000 | 1,962,000 | -150,000 | -7.1 |
| Sunday Times | 3,596,000 | 3,502,000 | -94,000 | -2.6 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday | 6,424,000 | 6,094,000 | -330,000 | -5.1 |
| Sunday Express | 2,166,000 | 1,964,000 | -202,000 | -9.3 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 1,081,000 | 918,000 | -163,000 | -15.1 |
| News Of The World | 8,595,000 | 8,212,000 | -383,000 | -4.5 |
| People | 1,975,000 | 1,771,000 | -204,000 | -10.3 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,593,000 | 4,138,000 | -455,000 | -9.9 |
| Total Sunday | 32,594,000 | 30,867,000 | -1,727,000 | -5.3 |
NRS: 020 7242 8111 www.nrs.co.uk