ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: April 2009

Daily Newspaper Market Overall, the daily newspaper market was down by almost 5% year on year in April, although the Daily Star bucked the general downward trend and reported impressive year on year growth.

The Independent suffered the largest circulation decline, although other daily titles also recorded significant falls.

Quality Daily Titles

The Independent saw the largest circulation percentage drop in both the Quality Daily market and overall Daily market at 16%, shedding almost 40,000 copies year on year, leaving it with a total of around 204,000.

The Irish-owned title is rumoured to be up for sale, along with its sister paper the Independent on Sunday, after its owner Independent News & Media reported a full-year pre-tax loss of €161.4 million for 2008 (see INM reports €161.4m loss).

INM has been desperately trying to secure additional funds and a €200 million bond to alleviate its £1.3 billion debt.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times were each down by more than 6% year on year in the Quality sector.

The Telegraph lost a considerable 54,000 copies, takings it total to around 817,000 copies, while the FT‘s circulation now sits at just over 420,000 after losing more than 27,000 copies.

Murdoch’s Times also lost over 27,000 copies, down 4.4% year on year, leaving it with a total of around 590,000.

The Guardian‘s circulation dipped by just 2.2% year on year, a real term loss of 7,700 copies, which was by far the lowest in the quality sector, taking its total to 343,000.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

In the Mid-Market, the Daily Express‘ circulation slipped by just 0.2% to around 725,000 copies in total.

However, the Daily Mail lost 5.3% of its circulation year on year, almost 123,000 copies, but still has a respectable total of more than 2.2 million copies.

Popular Daily Titles

The Daily Star was the only title in the Popular sector and the overall Daily market to report a year on year increase in its circulation.

The red-top paper was up by an impressive 12.7% year on year, an increase of more than 92,000 copies, taking its total to over 822,000 copies.

However, the Daily Mirror and Daily Record both recorded fairly substantial year on year declines – down by 10.6% and 10.1% respectively.

The Daily Mirror suffered a real term loss of more than 157,000 copies, but still boasts a total of over 1.3 million copies.

Meanwhile, the Daily Record shed almost 40,000 copies, taking it to just over 356,000 copies in total.

The Sun remained the daily newspaper with the highest overall circulation, despite being down by 5.6% year on year and losing a whopping 174,000 copies, which takes it total below three million copies.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday newspaper market suffered an overall drop of 7.3% in April.

The only Sunday title in our analysis to record a rise in circulation was the Sunday Times, up by around 1.5% year on year.

The Independent on Sunday, meanwhile, suffered a large percentage decline.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Independent on Sunday was down by almost 27% year on year, leaving its total circulation at 165,000 copies in April.

The Observer and the Sunday Telegraph were down by 6.7% and just over 7% respectively.

The The observer now has a circulation of less than 422,000 copies, while the Sunday Telegraph’s rests at just under 591,000.

The Sunday Times proved to be a ray of spring sunshine, adding over 19,000 copies to its total, giving it a circulation of more than 1.2 million.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

The Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Express were both down year on year.

The Mail on Sunday shed around 8.5% of its circulation, leaving it on under 2.1 million, while the Sunday Express now has a circulation of less than 638,000 following a fall of 5.4%.

Popular Sunday Titles

Of the Popular Sundays, the People was down almost 12.5% year on year, to leave its total at around 578,000 copies, while the Sunday Mirror fell by around 9% to 1.2 million.

Although the News of the World once again had the highest circulation figure in the Sunday sector, it was down 8% year on year – or over a quarter of a million copies – dropping below the 3 million mark to 2.9 million.

The Daily Star Sunday‘s circulation now rests at under 357,000 copies following a year on year dip of 1%.