NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: August 2006
Daily Newspaper Market
The nation’s daily newspapers saw their readership figures fall by almost 6% year on year for the six months from March to August this year.
Only two daily titles saw their readership boosted in the period, with the Guardian adding marginally to its readership and the Independent‘s total being boosted by more than 8%.
The red-tops and the Mid Market sectors both suffered, with the Daily Star shedding 16.6% of its readership year on year for the period. The title lost over 300,000 readers, whilst the Sun‘s readership dipped by around 460,000, the biggest actual loss of all daily titles. However, it remains the most-read daily paper in the UK, with more than 7.5 million readers.
Quality Daily Titles
The Independent pushed its readership up by 8.3% year on year, an actual figure of 58,000, to leave it with a total of over 750,000 readers. The Guardian also boosted its readership, by 5,000, with its total now resting at 1.2 million.
The Daily Telegraph is the most read title in the sector, despite its readership dipping by 74,000 year on year in the period. It now commands a readership of 2.1 million, whilst the Times has a total of almost 1.8 million, down almost 5%.
Mid Market Daily Titles
Both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail lost readers year on year, with the Express seeing the worst percentage slide of over 10%.
The title dropped 196,000 readers, whilst the Mail shed more than 260,000 from its total. The paper now has a readership of around 5.2 million, down almost 5%.
Popular Daily Titles
The red-tops recorded an equally gloomy picture year on year for the six-month period to August.
The Daily Star felt the greatest percentage slide year on year, dropping 16.6% to leave its readership at around 1.5 million.
Despite remaining by far the market leader, the Sun also suffered, with its readership declining by almost 460,000 (nearly 6%). Its readership now rests at just over 7.5 million.
The Daily Mirror also recorded a year on year loss, of 213,000, to leave its total at 3.7 million, whilst the Daily Record now has a readership of around 1.1 million, down nearly 10%.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – August 2006 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Mar 05-Aug 05 | Mar 06-Aug 06 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,187,000 | 2,113,000 | -74,000 | -3.4 |
| Guardian | 1,215,000 | 1,220,000 | 5,000 | 0.4 |
| Independent | 696,000 | 754,000 | 58,000 | 8.3 |
| Times | 1,882,000 | 1,792,000 | -90,000 | -4.8 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,950,000 | 1,754,000 | -196,000 | -10.1 |
| Daily Mail | 5,562,000 | 5,299,000 | -263,000 | -4.7 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 3,917,000 | 3,704,000 | -213,000 | -5.4 |
| Daily Record | 1,290,000 | 1,165,000 | -125,000 | -9.7 |
| Daily Star | 1,822,000 | 1,519,000 | -303,000 | -16.6 |
| Sun | 8,036,000 | 7,577,000 | -459,000 | -5.7 |
| Total Daily | 28,557,000 | 26,897,000 | -1,660,000 | -5.8 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday market showed a 3.8% decrease in overall readership year on year, with a loss in real terms of 1.2 million.
The hardest hit of all the Sundays was the News Of The World, although it remained the most read, with a total of 8.1 million.
The best performing title was the Observer, which added 191,000 readers year on year to give it a total of 1.4 million readers.
The Independent On Sunday also recorded a readership increase, with a rise of 6% year on year.
Quality Sunday Titles
In the Quality sector, the Sunday Telegraph suffered a 4.4% loss in readers year on year, although it was still the second most read paper in the sector.
The Sunday Times remained relatively static, with an increase of 0.2% seeing it add 7,000 readers year on year for the period March to August.
The Independent On Sunday and the Observer bucked the trend and added 46,000 and 191,000 respectively.
Mid Market Sunday Titles
In the Mid Market, the Mail On Sunday shed 255,000 readers year on year, leaving it with a readership total of six million.
The Sunday Express fared better than its Mid Market cohort, losing 120,000 readers year on year, although its readership total is still well below that of the Mail On Sunday at two million.
Popular Sunday Titles
The News Of The World, despite suffering a loss of over 435,000 year on year, remained the most read of all the Sunday papers.
The Sunday Mirror saw a 7.6% decline in readership year on year, although it remained widely read, with a total of 4.1 million.
The People recorded a decline of almost 200,000 readers to leave it with a total of 1.7 million.
The Daily Star Sunday was the least hard hit of the Popular titles, shedding a comparatively small 12,000 readers year on year to leave it with a total of one million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – August 2006 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Mar 05-Aug 05 | Mar 06-Aug 06 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday | 764,000 | 810,000 | 46,000 | 6.0 |
| Observer | 1,250,000 | 1,441,000 | 191,000 | 15.3 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,064,000 | 1,973,000 | -91,000 | -4.4 |
| Sunday Times | 3,536,000 | 3,543,000 | 7,000 | 0.2 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday | 6,323,000 | 6,068,000 | -255,000 | -4.0 |
| Sunday Express | 2,145,000 | 2,025,000 | -120,000 | -5.6 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 1,016,000 | 1,004,000 | -12,000 | -1.2 |
| News Of The World | 8,547,000 | 8,111,000 | -436,000 | -5.1 |
| People | 1,963,000 | 1,765,000 | -198,000 | -10.1 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,442,000 | 4,104,000 | -338,000 | -7.6 |
| Total Sunday | 32,050,000 | 30,844,000 | -1,206,000 | -3.8 |
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