NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: December 2005
Daily Newspaper Market
The daily newspaper market continued to see readership decline in the last month of 2005, with a total downturn of 1.7% year on year indicating continued difficulty for the sector.
There were some success stories amongst the depression, however, with the Independent adding a staggering 29.8% to its total year on year, proving the success of its compact format with readership now totaling 763,000.
Fellow compacts the Times and Guardian also saw success, adding 8.8% and 8.5% respectively. The papers now command sales of 1.8 and 1.2 million, although the figures show reduced-size titles were the only ones to see any increase year on year in December.
Worst hit was the Financial Times, shedding 24.5% year on year to see its total drop by 106,000 in real terms. The dip leaves the paper’s readership at 326,000.
The popular and mid market sectors also struggled against readership decline, with the Daily Star and Daily Express the worst casualties in each market.
The Daily Star saw a downturn of 7.5% year on year, while the Express suffered a downturn of 8.2%. Both the popular and mid-market sectors saw a decline in readership across the board.
Quality Daily Titles
Compact titles were the only newspapers to increase readership during December, with the Independent notching up the greatest success – an increase of 29.8% year on year, equating to a rise of 175,000 in real terms.
The paper now commands a readership of 763,000, while compact rivals the Times and Guardian also saw increases in readership at the end of 2005.
The Times added a respectable 8.8% year on year, pushing its total to 1.8 million, while the Guardian’s Berliner format continued to prove popular, fuelling an 8.5% upturn in the same period.
The market leading Daily Telegraph saw a 1.1% downturn during December, although this was not enough to significantly dent its dominance of the sector, equating to a dip of just 22,000 in real terms.
The Financial Times was the heaviest casualty of the month, shedding 24.5% of its readership to rest at 326,000. November saw the title’s editor, Andrew Gowers, hand in his resignation, citing “strategic differences” with the paper’s management (see FT Editor Steps Down Citing ‘Strategic Differences’).
Publisher Pearson remains optimistic for the FT, however, expecting a return to profits for the paper this year (see Pearson Optimistic As FT Faces Break Even), despite increased competition from freesheet CityAM (see City AM Claims More Readers Than FT).
Mid Market Daily Titles
The mid market saw a poor performance in December, with both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail shedding readers year on year.
The Daily Express was worst hit, losing 8.2% from its total, while the Daily Mail lost 1.8% in the same period. The titles now command readerships of 1.9 million and 5.6 million respectively.
Popular Daily Titles
The Daily Star led the decline amongst the nation’s popular titles during December, losing 7.5% from its total to hit 1.7 million. The Star’s poor performance was not isolated, however, with declines for all titles in the sector.
Also hit particularly hard was the Daily Mirror, shedding 5.8% from its total readership. The title saw the largest decline in real terms, dropping 251,000 readers to dip just below 4.1 million.
Arch rival the Sun performed better, but was equally unable to avoid readership decline, losing 1.1% to 8.3 million in the same period. The title remains the nation’s best-read daily newspaper, however.
The Daily Record performed the best in the sector, losing a comparatively meager 16,000 readers from its total, which now stands at 1.2 million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – December 2005 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Jul 04-Dec 04 | Jul 05-Dec 05 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,086,000 | 2,064,000 | -22,000 | -1.1 |
| Financial Times | 432,000 | 326,000 | -106,000 | -24.5 |
| Guardian | 1,112,000 | 1,207,000 | 95,000 | 8.5 |
| Independent | 588,000 | 763,000 | 175,000 | 29.8 |
| Times | 1,656,000 | 1,801,000 | 145,000 | 8.8 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 2,088,000 | 1,916,000 | -172,000 | -8.2 |
| Daily Mail | 5,753,000 | 5,649,000 | -104,000 | -1.8 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 4,313,000 | 4,062,000 | -251,000 | -5.8 |
| Daily Record | 1,223,000 | 1,207,000 | -16,000 | -1.3 |
| Daily Star | 1,877,000 | 1,737,000 | -140,000 | -7.5 |
| Sun | 8,429,000 | 8,336,000 | -93,000 | -1.1 |
| Total Daily | 29,557,000 | 29,068,000 | -489,000 | -1.7 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday newspaper market looked marginally more optimistic than its weekday counterpart in December, with an overall decline in readers of 2.1% year on year.
Declines remained across the board for the mid market and popular sectors, however, with only the quality market seeing any upturn in readers.
The newly compact (see Independent On Sunday To Make Tabloid Switch) Independent on Sunday saw the largest increase, adding an impressive 21.6% in the face of widespread decline for other titles. The paper’s readership total now stands at 799,000, its highest point since May 1999.
Elsewhere there were some sizeable downturns, however, with the Daily Star Sunday leading the charge, losing 22.7% from its total. The paper’s readership now stands at 968,000, dipping below the 1 million mark for the second time in 2005.
Quality Sunday Titles
The Independent on Sunday’s strong performance lead not only the quality sector, but the Sunday market as a whole, adding 21.6% year on year to dwarf the performance of all rival titles.
The paper now commands a readership of 799,000, adding an impressive 142,000 in real terms.
The Sunday Times also performed well, adding 6% year on year to its readership, which totals 3.5 million and leads the quality sector by over 1 million.
The Observer saw a 0.9% increase in its readership year on year, rising to 1.3 million in its last month as a fully-fledged broadsheet, ahead of the switch to Berliner format in January 2006 (see Observer Makes Transition To Berliner Format).
The Sunday Telegraph was the only quality title to see a decline, shedding 2.8% year on year to see its readers number just below 2 million.
Mid Market Sunday Titles
The Sunday mid market echoed the poor performance of its weekday counterpart, with both the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Express suffering a downturn year on year.
The Mail on Sunday shed 3.9% from its total year on year, seeing readership slip to just under 6.2 million, while the Sunday Express lost 1.1% in the same period to 2.2 million.
Popular Sunday Titles
The popular sector continued the trend of decline, with the Daily Star Sunday notching up the largest downturn in readership, shedding 22.7% year on year. The paper’s total now stands at 968,000, down by 285,000 in real terms.
Market leader, the News of the World, also suffered a dip in readers, losing 3.6% to see 323,000 readers desert the paper. The title now commands a total of 8.7 million, but remains the nation’s best-read Sunday title.
By comparison, the News of the World’s principal rival the Sunday Mirror performed well, losing 90,000 in real terms after a 2% dip year on year. The title’s readership now stands at just over 4.5 million
The People recorded the smallest dip of any Sunday title in December, losing 0.3% year on year to total just under 2 million readers.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – December 2005 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Jul 04-Dec 04 | Jul 05-Dec 05 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 657,000 | 799,000 | 142,000 | 21.6 |
| Observer | 1,292,000 | 1,303,000 | 11,000 | 0.9 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,010,000 | 1,953,000 | -57,000 | -2.8 |
| Sunday Times | 3,288,000 | 3,486,000 | 198,000 | 6.0 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 6,439,000 | 6,190,000 | -249,000 | -3.9 |
| Sunday Express | 2,263,000 | 2,237,000 | -26,000 | -1.1 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday. | 1,253,000 | 968,000 | -285,000 | -22.7 |
| News Of The World | 9,056,000 | 8,733,000 | -323,000 | -3.6 |
| People | 1,991,000 | 1,985,000 | -6,000 | -0.3 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,615,000 | 4,525,000 | -90,000 | -2.0 |
| Total Sunday | 32,864,000 | 32,179,000 | -685,000 | -2.1 |
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