ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: June 2006

Daily Newspaper Market

Britain’s daily newspaper market looked downbeat yet again in June, with overall circulation slipping by 2.86% year on year, demonstrating further decline for the industry.

Both the Mid Market and Popular sectors saw a dip across the board, with just two Quality titles bucking the overall trend. The Guardian and the Financial Times were the only national newspapers to see an increase in sales, with circulations rising 5.2% and 3.4% respectively.

The Independent and the Times were the worst hit in their group, whilst the Daily Mirror suffered the biggest blow of the red-tops in real terms, shedding more than 106,500 or 6.1% of its circulation.

Quality Daily Titles

The Daily Telegraph retained its leadership of the daily Quality market in June, with a circulation of 900,158, despite a dip in sales of 0.4% year on year.

The Times also lost sales, with a 3.9% downturn year on year, more than 26,600 in real terms, whilst the Independent suffered a 7.8% drop in its circulation, down by more than 20,400 to leave the paper with a circulation of just over 241,600.

Elsewhere, the Guardian continued to see its sales climb, with a rise of 5.2% year on year, giving the title a total circulation of 380,211.

The Financial Times also saw success in June, adding 3.4% to total a circulation of 440,598. Recent news suggests the paper is set for major changes to its editorial structure (see FT Job Cuts Aid Multi-Media Plans), whilst competing freesheet, City AM, recently announced it was boosting its distribution, in a bid to outperform the FT (see City AM Set To Distribute 100,000 Copies Per Day).

Mid Market Daily Titles

The mid market saw a fairly depressing set of results for June, with both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail recording year on year circulation decline for the month.

The Daily Express saw the largest downturn, losing 5.4% or almost 48,500 from its total year on year, whilst the Daily Mail shed a comparatively low 0.4%. The papers now command sales of 844,729 and 2.34 million respectively.

.

Popular Daily Titles

The Popular market also looked downbeat in June, with the Daily Mirror seeing the largest loss of sales in actual terms, shedding 106,535 or 6.1% of its circulation year on year to leave its circulation at 1.63 million.

The Sun also saw a decline, with a downward turn of 2.5% in the same period, whilst still maintaining its market dominance with a circulation of 3.14 million.

A decline was also seen by the Daily Record and the Daily Star, with respective losses of 6.8% and 6.1%, leaving the titles’ circulations at more than 430,900 and 803,400.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday newspaper market mirrored the performance of its daily counterpart in June, with an overall downturn in sales of 2.6% year on year.

The Sunday Express saw the largest actual decline of any Sunday title, losing more than 100,000 sales, a 10.9% year on year drop. This was closely followed by Popular title the People, which suffered a 10.1% drop in the same period.

There was hope for some titles in the Sunday market, however, with the Observer, the Independent On Sunday and the Mail On Sunday all putting in a good performance with boosted sales.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Independent On Sunday and the Observer both saw notable circulation increases of 2% and 6.7% year on year in June.

The rise sees the Independent On Sunday command sales of 210,207, whilst the Observer adds more than 29,500 in real terms to total 470,762.

However, declines were felt by the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph, with the Sunday Times dropping in circulation by a modest 0.8%, remaining the nation’s favourite quality Sunday title with a circulation of 1.31 million.

The Sunday Telegraph was worse hit with a loss of 4.3%. The paper shed more than 29,000 in real terms, leaving it with a circulation of just over 645,400.

Mid Market Sunday Titles

The Sunday Mid Market saw a mixed performance with the Sunday Express shedding a significant 10.9% of its circulation and the Mail On Sunday increasing its circulation by 2.8%.

The Sunday Express dropped by more than 101,600 in June year on year, giving it a total circulation of just over 830,000. The Mail On Sunday‘s circulation was boosted by more than 62,650 leaving it by far the market leader with a circulation of 2.31 million.

Popular Sunday Titles

The People saw the largest decline in the Popular sector, losing 10.1% from its sales year on year to total 821,116. The News Of The World also saw a drop, shedding more than 91,600 sales. However, it remains by far the market leader with total sales of 3.47 million.

The Daily Star Sunday and the Sunday Mirror also suffered, with 3.5% and 4.6% downturns respectively to push total sales down to 406,241 and 1.41 million.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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