NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: June 2007
Daily Newspaper Market
The first six months of 2007 showed Britain’s national daily newspapers to have recorded a year on year decline in readership of just over 0.5% overall, presumably buoyed by significant news stories – from the summer floods to the foot and mouth outbreak and the Madeleine McCann case.
It was a mixed picture for the Quality dailies, with some titles adding to their readership year on year for January to June, and some losing readers.
In the Mid-Market, both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail lost readers for the period, whilst in the Popular sector, the Daily Record was the only featured publication to see its total readership slide, by 6.6%.
The Daily Star, however, grew its final figure by more than 19%, to take its readership to almost 1.8 million.
Quality Daily Titles
It was a mixed picture for the Quality dailies, with the Times experiencing the greatest actual decline in readership for the first six months of the year.
The title was down by around 75,000 readers year on year, just over 4% of its total, which now stands at around 1.7 million.
A loss was also felt for the Guardian, which shed just over 40,000 readers to leave its total at a little over 1.1 million. However, the title’s online incarnation, Guardian Unlimited, continues to thrive, with 12.2 million unique users for June (see Times Online Boosts Site Users).
Both the Daily Telegraph and the Independent pushed their readerships up year on year for the period.
The Daily Telegraph‘s total rose by 40,000 to take it to just over two million, whilst the Independent grew by around 20,000 readers to leave its final figure at around 790,000.
Mid-Market Daily Titles
Both Mid-Market titles saw their NRS figure fall year on year for the first six months of the year.
The Daily Mail took the most significant real terms hit, of around 210,000 readers, to take its total to a little over five million, whilst the Daily Express shed around 50,000. Its NRS figure now rests at around 1.7million.
Popular Daily Titles
The Daily Record was the only Popular daily featured to have recorded a year on year slide in its readership.
The Record dropped 6.6% of its readership to take it to a little over one million.
However, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Star and the Sun all experienced upturns in their readerships year on year for the period.
The Daily Star‘s readership rose by more than 19%, taking its total figure to almost 1.8 million. The Mirror added around 155,000 whilst the Sun was up by around 100,000.
The papers now boast readerships of around 3.8 million and 7.9 million respectively.
London Free Papers
The London free papers have today released their first set of NRS figures, which show that the London Lite is ahead of its rival thelondonpaper by around 30,000 readers.
The two titles show readerships higher than their paid-for competitor, the Evening Standard, at 745,000 for the Lite and 713,000 for thelondonpaper. The Standard‘s readership stands at around 690,000.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Jan 07-June 07 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Jan 06-Jun 06 | Jan 07-Jun 07 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,002,000 | 2,042,000 | 40,000 | 2.0 |
| Guardian | 1,171,000 | 1,128,000 | -43,000 | -3.7 |
| Independent | 769,000 | 792,000 | 23,000 | 3.0 |
| Times | 1,781,000 | 1,705,000 | -76,000 | -4.3 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,760,000 | 1,709,000 | -51,000 | -2.9 |
| Daily Mail | 5,260,000 | 5,051,000 | -209,000 | -4.0 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 3,651,000 | 3,805,000 | 154,000 | 4.2 |
| Daily Record | 1,121,000 | 1,047,000 | -74,000 | -6.6 |
| Daily Star | 1,498,000 | 1,786,000 | 288,000 | 19.2 |
| Sun | 7,806,000 | 7,909,000 | 103,000 | 1.3 |
| Total Daily | 26,819,000 | 26,974,000 | 155,000 | 0.6 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday Newspaper market fell 2.7% year on year for the six months to June 2007, a decline in real terms of 850,000 readers.
The largest decline in real terms was suffered by the Mail On Sunday, which was down by almost 610,000 copies year on year.
The biggest actual increase in readership was enjoyed by the Sunday Mirror, which saw its total figure rise by 160,000 to almost 4.3 million readers.
Quality Sunday Titles
In the Quality Sunday sector, the Independent On Sunday was the only title to record an increase in readership for the period, of more than 30,000 copies year on year, giving it a total of around 795,000.
The Sunday Times and the Observer both recorded significant falls in readership, of 150,000 and almost 120,000 respectively.
The Sunday Times now has a total readership figure of almost 3.4 million, whilst the Observer‘s rests at more than 1.3 million.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph shed almost 65,000 readers year on year, leaving it with a total of just over 1.8 million.
The Sunday Telegraph underwent a minor revamp in June, getting a new typeface and layout, although its content and structure stayed the same (see New Look For Sunday Telegraph).
Mid-Market Sunday Titles
The Mid-Market Sundays were both down, with the Mail On Sunday losing around 10% of its readers year on year and the Sunday Express dropping around 2% year on year.
The Mail On Sunday‘s total now stands at more than 5.5 million, whilst the Sunday Express has a total of over 1.9 million.
Popular Sunday Titles
The only title in the Popular sector to lose readers was the People, whose total declined by more than 13% year on year, leaving it at just over 1.6 million.
The Daily Star Sunday was up by almost 10% year on year, giving it a total of around 985,000 readers.
The News Of The World, which recently appointed new deputy editor, Jane Johnson (see News Of The World Gets New Deputy Editor), added around 115,000 readers year on year to its total, taking it to more than 8.3 million.
The Sunday Mirror, also saw its readership rise, to almost 4.3 million, after a increase of around 4% year on year.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Jan 07-June 07 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Jan 06-Jun 06 | Jan 07-Jun 07 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday | 762,000 | 794,000 | 32,000 | 4.2 |
| Observer | 1,471,000 | 1,353,000 | -118,000 | -8.0 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,867,000 | 1,803,000 | -64,000 | -3.4 |
| Sunday Times | 3,532,000 | 3,382,000 | -150,000 | -4.2 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday | 6,161,000 | 5,553,000 | -608,000 | -9.9 |
| Sunday Express | 1,980,000 | 1,937,000 | -43,000 | -2.2 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 913,000 | 986,000 | 73,000 | 8.0 |
| News Of The World | 8,242,000 | 8,358,000 | 116,000 | 1.4 |
| People | 1,874,000 | 1,626,000 | -248,000 | -13.2 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,123,000 | 4,283,000 | 160,000 | 3.9 |
| Total Sunday | 30,925,000 | 30,075,000 | -850,000 | -2.7 |
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