ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: January 2008

Daily Newspaper Market

Britain’s national daily newspapers suffered an almost 3% overall drop in circulation year on year for January, with nearly all titles recording a downturn, according to the latest ABC figures.

The Financial Times was once again the only daily paper to bolster its circulation, reporting a 3% rise year on year for the month.

The most significant real term slide of the dailies was seen by the Daily Mirror, which saw its circulation drop from over 1.6 million in January 2007 to just over 1.5 million in January 2008.

Other large declines were felt by the Daily Star at 6.5%, the Daily Mail at over 40,000 issues and the Times at over 36,000.

Quality Daily Titles

All Quality dailies saw a decline in circulation year on year for the month, with the exception of the Financial Times, which again pushed its circulation up.

The business broadsheet, which recently raised its cover price to £1.50 (see Financial Times Cover Price Reaches £1.50), reported a year on year upturn of around 13,350 issues, taking its circulation to almost 452,500.

Meanwhile, the Times saw the greatest real terms decline in the sector, shedding over 36,300 copies year on year for the month. The drop, of around 5.5%, now leaves its total ABC at 633,718.

Times Online was down in December by over a million users, making it the third most popular site in December. The site has been slowly losing users since September.

The Independent also recorded a fall – a little short of 12,900 year on year – taking its final figure to just under 250,650.

The Daily Telegraph and the Guardian, which fell by over 21,350 and over 5,650 copies respectively, also saw declines. The Telegraph‘s ABC for January now sits at just under 890,100, whilst the Guardian‘s rests at almost 378,400.

The Guardian‘s online offering, Guardian Unlimited, saw a fall of over 1.5 million unique users for December, although with just under 16 million it remains the UK’s busiest national newspaper website (see National Newspaper Sites Hit By December Dive).

Biggest hit by the festive slump was Telegraph.co.uk losing over two million users. With over 10.5 million users this leaves the Telegraph’s online offering the fourth most popular out of those measured. There was also a drop of over 10 million page impressions.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

Both Mid-Market titles dropped issues from their circulations for January, with the gap between the two competitors remaining vast.

Market-leader, the Daily Mail, shed a total of 40,120 copies year on year, giving it a circulation of over 2.3 million.

The Daily Mail‘s website, which has seen its traffic increase steadily over the past few months, suffered a fall in users in December, traditionally a poor month in terms of users. The website saw the smallest decline in users compared to its rivals with 13.6 million unique users, keeping it in second place from the previous month (see National Newspaper Sites Hit By December Dive).

The Daily Express dropped almost 2.5% of its total, which now stands at around 752,700.

Popular Daily Titles

The Daily Mirror dropped almost 108,500 editions from its circulation year on year for January, leaving it with a total ABC of over 1.5 million – down from over 1.6 million in the same period the year before.

The Daily Star reported a decline of around 50,670 issues, a percentage loss of 6.5%, taking its total down to just under 723,000.

An almost 6% fall was seen by the Daily Record – slipping from over 418,600 copies in January 2007 to 393,788 in January this year.

Market leader, the Sun, shed more than 8,000 issues year on year, with its impressive total remaining over the 3.2 million mark.

Although Sun Online was also affected by a December ABCe slump, with a loss of over a million users to 10.5 million unique users, its page impressions remained high at 213 million. Compare this to the most popular site, Guardian Unlimited’s 136 million page impressions, and it’s clear that Sun Online is hugely successful as users stay on their site for longer.

Sunday Newspaper Market

In the Sunday market, an overall loss of more than 4% was recorded year on year for the month, with significant actual falls seen by the News of the World at over 160,000 issues and the People and Sunday Mirror at over 90,000 copies each.

The only titles in the Sunday market to add editions to their circulations were the Observer, the Mail On Sunday and the Daily Star Sunday.

Quality Sunday Titles

In the Quality Sunday sector, the Observer‘s circulation rose slightly year on year, giving it a circulation of almost 445,000 copies.

The largest real term fall in the Sunday Quality sector was felt by the Sunday Times, which dipped by more than 57,000 copies year on year, to leave its total at over 1.2 million.

The Sunday Telegraph suffered a year on year downturn in circulation, of around 26,200 copies. Its total now stands at over 633,600.

It was also bad news for the Independent On Sunday, which now has a circulation of 236,500 copies following a year on year drop of over 4.5%.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

It was a mixed month for the Mid-Market Sundays, with a relatively large decline for the Sunday Express and a rise for the Mail On Sunday.

The Mail On Sunday saw its circulation grow by more than 1% year on year, a rise in real terms of almost 26,900 copies. It now has a total figure of more than 2.3 million.

The title underwent a relaunch earlier this year, getting a full colour makeover and splitting into two main sections (see Revamp Planned For Mail On Sunday).

The Sunday Express, meanwhile, was down almost 11% year on year, leaving its circulation at over 704,400.

Popular Sunday Titles

In the Popular sector, the People‘s circulation dropped by over 12% year on year, to under 669,400, while the News of the World was down by almost 5% over the same period, leaving its total at more than 3.2 million.

The Daily Star Sunday managed a slight increase, of over 1% year on year to almost 382,300.

However, following a decline of around 93,400 copies, the Sunday Mirror now has a circulation of more than 1.3 million.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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