Tabloids Look Depressed As FT Boosts Sales

The latest figures from ABC show the Financial Times increased its circulation by 2.8% last month, giving further credence on the paper’s optimistic forecasts of a return to profit this year.

The title now commands sales of 445,986, and joins the Guardian as the only two quality titles to experience circulation growth during March.

The popular sector looked down in the mouth last month, however, with declines in sales across the board. The Daily Star was the worst hit, losing 7.2% from its total to rest at 783,511.

The mid market also exhibited a dip, with the Daily Express recording a downturn of 11.4% to 831,923. Some hope was given to the sector by Daily Mail however, which notched up a modest 0.6% increase to add 14,384 sales in real terms. The paper now commands total sales of just under 2.4 million.

As a whole, the daily newspaper market saw circulations slip by 3.18% year on year in March, although the situation for Sunday titles was worse.

The weekend sector shed 5% year on year in total, with only the Independent on Sunday and Observer seeing a rise, adding 11.3% and 6.6% to their totals respectively.

A full breakdown of the latest ABC figures will be available on NewsLine this afternoon, with detailed analysis for both weekday and weekend titles by market sector.

ABC: 01442 870 800 www.abc.org.uk