ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: March 2007

Daily Newspaper Market

The nation’s Daily newspapers suffered further declines in circulation in March, with the overall market down 3.3% year on year.

Most Daily titles saw their circulations slide, with the exception of the Financial Times, which bolstered its figure by 3.4%.

The largest actual loss of the Dailies was felt by the Daily Mirror, while the greatest percentage lost was seen by the Daily Record.

Quality Daily Titles

All titles in the Quality Daily sector recorded a year on year downturn in the circulation, with the exception of the Financial Times, which rose 3.4% to leave its total at a little over 460,000.

The newspaper appointed Broadsystem last summer to manage all of its UK subscriptions, in a bid to boost the title’s subscriber base (see FT Appoints Broadsystem In Bid To Boost UK Subscriptions).

Other brands in the sector weren’t so fortunate, however, with the Times recording the greatest actual loss of 30,426. The title now holds a total ABC of a little shy of 640,000, after a 4.5% year on year decline for the month.

The Guardian suffered a downturn of around 13,600 editions, leaving its total at just over 366,000.

Recently the paper announced a move to integrate its print and digital operations, which could lead to significant job losses as the group looks at cost cutting to help finance more than 100 new jobs in digital media operations (see Job Losses Expected As The Guardian Integrates Digital And Print Operations).

Its online incarnation has blossomed, with the title set to invest £15 million in its websites over the coming 18 months (see Guardian To Invest £15 Million In Its Websites). The Guardian Unlimited site remains the UK’s most popular online newspaper destination, with usage for January reaching a record high of 15.7 million (see Newspapers’ Print Circulations Decline As Web Traffic Blossoms).

The Independent and the Daily Telegraph also saw their circulations shrink, by just over 3,000 and around 5,300 respectively. The Indy now reports a circulation of almost 253,000, whilst the Telegraph has recorded a total of just over 896,000.

Mid Market Daily Titles

Both titles in the Mid-Market recorded significant losses in their total circulation for March.

The Daily Express, which recently overhauled its website (see Daily Express Overhauls Website), suffered a decline of over 73,000 copies year on year, whilst the Daily Mail shed just under 55,000.

The titles now hold total ABCs of almost 759,000 and over 2.3 million respectively.

Popular Daily Titles

All titles in the Popular Daily sector saw their circulation slide year on year for the month, with the Daily Mirror dipping by more than 92,000.

The title dropped 5.6% of its total year on year to leave its circulation at over 1.5 million.

Market leader the Sun lost more than 79,000 year on year for March, leaving its circulation at a little over three million.

The Daily Record and the Daily Star also saw their totals drop, by around 40,500 and 11,500, to leave their totals at 401,354 and 771,989 respectively.

Sunday Newspaper Market

March saw the Sunday Newspaper market record an overall drop in circulation of 5.5% year on year, a decline in real terms of over 666,000.

All of the Sunday titles recorded a year on year decline for March, with the smallest percentage decrease recorded by the Mail On Sunday, which was down 0.8% year on year.

The largest year on year decline in real terms in the Sunday market was felt by the News of the World, which fell by more than 149,000, although it remained the Sunday title with the highest circulation.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Independent On Sunday fell by almost 5,000 copies year on year, leaving its total ABC for March at 228,234.

The Sunday Times suffered the largest circulation slide in the Quality sector, shedding over 119,000 copies year on year. However, it remained the Sunday Quality title with the largest total circulation, at more than 1.2 million.

The Observer, meanwhile, experienced a circulation downturn of over 18,000 year on year, leaving it with a total figure of almost 456,000.

The Sunday Telegraph was also down year on year, by just over 47,000 copies, a percentage decrease of almost 7%.

Mid Market Sunday Titles

In the Mid-Market, the Sunday Express saw the largest year on year decrease, down almost 13%, to leave it with a total circulation of just under 779,000.

The Mail On Sunday slid by just under 1% year on year, equating to a real term decline of almost 17,500.

Popular Sunday Titles

The Popular sector saw significant circulation decreases for both the News of the World and the People. However, the News of the World remained the Sunday title with the highest total circulation figure, of more than 3.3 million.

The People saw its final figure drop to around 731,000, after a year on year decline of almost 118,500.

The least hard hit in the sector was the Daily Star Sunday, which suffered a downturn of almost 10,000 copies year on year, a percentage decrease of just over 2.5%.

In keeping with the rest of the Sunday titles, the Sunday Mirror also recorded a year on year decrease, of around 66,600 copies, leaving it with a circulation of just under 1.4 million.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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