ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: July 2006

Daily Newspaper Market

The national daily newspaper market continued to decline in July, with overall circulation falling by 3.41% year on year.

The Mid Market and Popular sectors both recorded circulation declines for all titles, with only two of the Qualities bucking the overall trend, The FT and the Guardian.

The Times recorded the biggest decline of the Quality papers, while the Daily Mail saw the biggest fall in the Mid Market sector.In the Popular market the Sun recorded the biggest fall in real terms, shedding over 135,000 of its circulation.

Quality Daily Titles

The Daily Telegraph stayed on top of the daily Quality market in July with a circulation of 897,416, although it recorded a decline of 1.6% year on year.

The Times saw a 4.4% downturn year on year, or 30,547 in real terms, taking its circulation figure to 667,496, whilst the Independent recorded a 1.9% loss year on year, leaving it with a circulation of just over 250,000.

Meanwhile, the Guardian saw the biggest increase of the Qualities, of 3.4% year on year, giving it a total circulation of 370,612.

The Financial Times also recorded an increase in July, of 3.2%, giving it a circulation of over 420,000.

Mid Market Daily Titles

Mid Market dailies recorded year on year declines for July, with the Daily Mail seeing the biggest drop, although its circulation figure was still well ahead of the Daily Express.

The Daily Mail recorded a figure of nearly 2.4 million after a decline of 1.3% year on year, whilst the Daily Express declined just 0.3%, around 2,800 in real terms, leaving it with a circulation figure of just over 830,000.

Popular Daily Titles

The Popular market fared quite badly in July, with the Sun recording the biggest decline in real terms, of over 135,000. However, it remained the market leader with a circulation of 3.2 million.

The Daily Mirror and the Daily Star recorded almost identical declines in circulation, of around 92,800, leaving them with circulation figures of 1,660,151 and 797,132 respectively.

The Daily Record also saw a dip year on year, of 8.6%, leaving it with a circulation of 424,312.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday newspaper market also saw a drop in circulations in July, with an overall downturn in sales of 4.8% year on year.

The largest decline of any of the Sunday titles was that of the News Of The World, although it was still the best selling Sunday title with a circulation of well over 3.4 million.

However, two Sunday titles did record year on year increases, the Independent On Sunday and the Observer.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Independent On Sunday and the Observer went against the overall downward trend, and both increased their circulations in July, up by 9,486 and 12,068 respectively.

The Sunday Times felt the biggest decline in real terms in the Quality market, with a drop of around 30,000 leaving it with a circulation of more than 1.3 million, although this still leaves it as the best performing Quality title.

The Telegraph’s circulation also dipped, dropping 3.9% to leave it with a total figure of around 656,000.

Mid Market Sunday Titles

Of the Mid Market Sundays, the Sunday Express dropped by over 10% year on year in July, leaving it with a total circulation figure of around 796,000.

The Mail On Sunday also saw a drop in circulation over the same period, declining by 1.8%, leaving it with a total circulation figure of around 2.2 million.

Popular Sunday Titles

The News Of The World saw the largest decline in the Popular sector, with sales down over 219,000 year on year, although it is still the market leading Sunday title, with a total circulation of nearly 3.4 million.

The People saw a drop in July, declining 13.9% to leave it with a total circulation figure of 840,860, as did the Daily Star Sunday and the Sunday Mirror, recording downturns of around 28,000 and 46,000 respectively.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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