NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: Apr 2008 – Mar 2009
Daily Newspaper Market
The latest NRS figures, for April 2008 To March 2009, show impressive readership increases for three of the Quality daily titles.
The Financial Times, Guardian and Times all increased their readership totals year on year.
Quality Daily Titles
The Financial Times enjoyed a very healthy rise of around 15% year on year, taking its total to 417,000 readers.
The Guardian was also up year on year, to 1.2 million readers, following a rise of 3.2%.
The paper increased its cover price by 10p to 90p in January (see Four more newspapers set to up cover prices)
In what was a good period for the Quality titles, the Times saw its total readership increase by almost 6%, to just under 1.8 million.
The most read title in the Quality sector, the Daily Telegraph, did not do as well, however, with a dip of 6.7% leaving its total readership at under 1.9 million.
The Independent also shed readers, down 11.5% year on year, to under 650,000.
Mid-Market Daily Titles
Mid-Market title the Daily Mail now has under five million readers following a fall of 6.5%, while the Daily Express was down by around 4%, leaving it with just under 1.6 million readers.
Popular Daily Titles
None of the Popular daily titles in our analysis managed to record an increase in readers, although the Sun remained relatively static, shedding just 0.3%. It now has a total of around 7.8 million readers.
The Daily Mirror and Daily Record both lost around 7% of their readers over the year, leaving them with 3.5 million and 1.1 million readers respectively.
In January, the Daily Mirror increased its cover price by 5p to 45p, making it the most expensive red-top tabloid (see Daily Mirror ups its cover price)
A 3.3% year on year dip means that the Daily Star now has under 1.5 million readers.
London Free Papers
The latest NRS figures for the London afternoon freesheets show that thelondonpaper now has a total readership figure of around 1.1 million, up from 900,000 a year ago, while the London Lite has around 1.2 million readers, also up from around 900,000 a year ago.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – April 08 – March 09 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Apr 07- Mar 08 | Apr 08-Mar 09 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,023,000 | 1,887,000 | -136,000 | -6.7 |
| Financial Times | 362,000 | 417,000 | 55,000 | 15.2 |
| Guardian | 1,169,000 | 1,206,000 | 37,000 | 3.2 |
| Independent | 733,000 | 649,000 | -84,000 | -11.5 |
| Times | 1,673,000 | 1,770,000 | 97,000 | 5.8 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,621,000 | 1,557,000 | -64,000 | -3.9 |
| Daily Mail | 5,293,000 | 4,949,000 | -344,000 | -6.5 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 3,748,000 | 3,489,000 | -259,000 | -6.9 |
| Daily Record | 1,190,000 | 1,107,000 | -83,000 | -7.0 |
| Daily Star | 1,500,000 | 1,451,000 | -49,000 | -3.3 |
| Sun | 7,897,000 | 7,870,000 | -27,000 | -0.3 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
All but one of the titles in the Sunday newspaper market suffered readership declines in the twelve-month period to March 2009.
The Observer was the only newspaper in the Sunday sector to buck the downward trend and increase its readership, while its fellow Quality title, the Independent on Sunday, witnessed the largest percentage drop in the overall market.
Quality Sunday Titles
The Quality sector was the only one to see an increased readership in the overall Sunday market, though three out of the four titles lost readers, along with all the other Sunday newspapers.
The Independent on Sunday was down by a significant 14.8% year on year, a real term loss of around 117,000 copies.
The Independent on Sunday‘s total readership now stands at just 676,000, a considerable way below the other titles in the Quality sector.
The Sunday Telegraph also suffered a decline in readers, down by 4.3%, taking its total readership to below the 1.7 million mark.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times dipped by just 1.6%, a real term loss of 52,000 copies, but still remains on top of the Quality sector with more than 3.1 million copies.
The Observer managed to increase its readership by 1.6%, gaining 21,000 readers, which takes its total up to more than 1.3 million.
Mid-Market Sunday Titles
The Mid-Market sector had a relatively bad period, with both titles suffering year on year declines.
The Sunday Express saw a fairly significant percentage loss, down 8.5% year on year, which leaves its total readership at just below 1.7 million.
During the same period, the Mail on Sunday suffered a real term loss of 220,000 copies – down 3.8% – but still managed to retain a readership of more than 5.5 million.
Popular Sunday Titles
The Popular sector also had a bad period, with all four titles witnessing fairly significant losses.
In terms of percentage losses, the People was down by the most in the red-top sector after a decline of 11.2% year on year to 1.4 million copies.
The Daily Star Sunday also lost a substantial amount, down 7.2% – a real term loss of 66,000 – which leaves it with just 857,000, well below its competitors in the market.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Mirror was down by 6%, which takes its total readership to below the 4 million mark.
Despite dipping by 2.2%, 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 more than 7.8 million readers.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – April 08 – March 09 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Apr 07- Mar 08 | Apr 08-Mar 09 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 793,000 | 676,000 | -117,000 | -14.8 |
| Observer | 1,349,000 | 1,370,000 | 21,000 | 1.6 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,750,000 | 1,675,000 | -75,000 | -4.3 |
| Sunday Times | 3,227,000 | 3,175,000 | -52,000 | -1.6 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 5,809,000 | 5,589,000 | -220,000 | -3.8 |
| Sunday Express | 1,831,000 | 1,676,000 | -155,000 | -8.5 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday. | 923,000 | 857,000 | -66,000 | -7.2 |
| News Of The World | 7,983,000 | 7,808,000 | -175,000 | -2.2 |
| People | 1,642,000 | 1,458,000 | -184,000 | -11.2 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,171,000 | 3,919,000 | -252,000 | -6.0 |