NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: January – June 2008
Daily Newspaper Market
The latest six monthly NRS figures, for January to June 2008, show that overall, Britain’s national daily newspaper market was static year on year in June.
In the daily Quality sector, the Guardian and Times were both up by almost 8% year on year, with the Daily Mail in the Mid-Market and the Sun and Daily Record in the Popular sectors also boosting their readership totals.
The Daily Record was up by a very impressive 15% year on year, giving it 1.2 million readers.
Quality Daily Titles
In the Quality sector, the Guardian and Times were both up by almost 8% year on year, giving them total readership figures of 1.2 million and 1.8 million respectively.
The Daily Telegraph saw its readership fall by around 1.5% year on year, leaving it with just over two million readers.
There was a relatively large decline for the Independent, down by around 11% year on year, to 706,000 readers.
Mid-Market Daily Titles
The Mid-Market titles experienced differing fortunes for the period, with the Daily Mail up by around 4.5% year on year to nearly 5.3 million readers, while the Daily Express lost around 9.5% of its readership, leaving it with a total of under 1.6 million.
The Daily Mail increased its cover price in April, by 5p to 50p, due to higher fuel charges, printing, production and distribution costs (see Price Increase For Daily Mail).
Popular Daily Titles
The Daily Record enjoyed a great period, with a year on year rise of around 15% taking its total to 1.2 million readers.
Also up in the Popular sector was the Sun, with an increase of 1.3% year on year.
The Sun now has a total readership of eight million, making it easily the most read title in our analysis.
It was not all good news though, with the Daily Mirror shedding 5.5% of its readership year on year, leaving it with around 3.6 million readers, while the Daily Star fell by almost 13% year on year.
This fall takes the Daily Star‘s readership to under 1.6 million.
London Free Papers
The latest NRS figures for the London afternoon freesheets show that thelondonpaper now has a total readership figure of just over one million, while the London Lite now has over 1.1 million readers.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Jan 08- Jun 08 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Jan 07-Jun 07 | Jan 08-Jun 08 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,042,000 | 2,014,000 | -28,000 | -1.4 |
| Guardian | 1,128,000 | 1,217,000 | 89,000 | 7.9 |
| Independent | 792,000 | 706,000 | -86,000 | -10.9 |
| Times | 1,705,000 | 1,835,000 | 130,000 | 7.6 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,709,000 | 1,548,000 | -161,000 | -9.4 |
| Daily Mail | 5,051,000 | 5,285,000 | 234,000 | 4.6 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 3,805,000 | 3,597,000 | -208,000 | -5.5 |
| Daily Record | 1,047,000 | 1,203,000 | 156,000 | 14.9 |
| Daily Star | 1,786,000 | 1,560,000 | -226,000 | -12.7 |
| Sun | 7,909,000 | 8,011,000 | 102,000 | 1.3 |
| Total Daily | 26,974,000 | 26,976,000 | 2,000 | 0.0 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday newspaper market was down by 4.2% overall in the six-month period to June 2008, a real term decline of over around 1.25 million readers.
The Mail on Sunday was the only title in the Sunday sector to increase its readership, up by nearly 4% year on year to more than 5.7 million readers.
There were relatively large declines for two titles in the Popular category, the Daily Star Sunday was down over 12% year on year, while the News of the World suffered a 9% decrease of more than 750,000 readers in the period.
Quality Sunday Titles
The Sunday Times still remains the most read title in the Quality sector in our analysis, despite losing more than 100,000 readers year on year. The title now has a readership figure of around 3.25 million.
It was a fairly tough period for the Sunday Telegraph. It saw readership drop almost 5% year on year, to just over 1.7 million.
Meanwhile, the Independent on Sunday saw its readership drop a similar percentage, to just over 750,000.
The Observer only dipped 0.8% year on year, leaving its total fairly static at around 1.3 million readers.
Mid-Market Sunday Titles
The Mid-Market had a mixed period, with the Mail On Sunday impressively being the only title to increase its readership, while the Sunday Express experienced a relatively significant downturn.
The Mail On Sunday readership was up almost 4% year on year by more than 200,000 readers, giving it a total of over 5.7 million.
The paper received a revamp in the New Year, with a full colour makeover and the title split into two main sections (see Revamp Planned For Mail On Sunday).
By comparison, the Sunday Express now has just below 1.8 million readers after a fall of over 8.5%.
Popular Sunday Titles
It was a tough period for the Popular sector in general, with all the titles seeing readership declines.
However, the News of the World still remains the most read paper in its category as well as the overall Sunday market, well ahead of the other titles with over 7.6 million readers, despite seeing a significant 9% year on year drop.
The Sunday Mirror was down 4% to around 4.1 million for the period.
The Daily Star Sunday shed more than 12% year on year, taking its total to just over 865,000.
Meanwhile, the People only dipped 0.6%, leaving its total at around 1.6 million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Jan 08- Jun 08 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Jan 07-Jun 07 | Jan 08-Jun 08 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 794,000 | 754,000 | -40,000 | -5.0 |
| Observer | 1,353,000 | 1,342,000 | -11,000 | -0.8 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,803,000 | 1,719,000 | -84,000 | -4.7 |
| Sunday Times | 3,382,000 | 3,267,000 | -115,000 | -3.4 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 5,553,000 | 5,772,000 | 219,000 | 3.9 |
| Sunday Express | 1,937,000 | 1,770,000 | -167,000 | -8.6 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday. | 986,000 | 866,000 | -120,000 | -12.2 |
| News Of The World | 8,358,000 | 7,602,000 | -756,000 | -9.0 |
| People | 1,626,000 | 1,617,000 | -9,000 | -0.6 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,283,000 | 4,110,000 | -173,000 | -4.0 |
| Total Sunday | 30,075,000 | 28,819,000 | -1,256,000 | -4.2 |
NRS: 020 7242 8111 www.nrs.co.uk