NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: October 2008 – September 2009
Daily Newspaper Market
The latest NRS figures, for the period October 2008 to September 2009, show some healthy readership increases for a lucky few titles.
In the Quality daily sector, the Financial Times and Times both saw an increase in readers, while the Daily Star was up in the Popular sector.
Of the Sunday papers, only the SundayTimes and Daily Star Sunday managed to grow their total readership figures.
Quality Daily Titles
The Financial Times added 46,000 readers year on year – a rise of 11.9% – taking its total to 433,000.
The Times was up 2.2% year on year to 1.8 million.
It was not such a good time for the rest of the papers in the sector though, with the Independent shedding around 12% of its readership, leaving it with 636,000, while the Daily Telegraph fell 10% to 1.8 million.
In October, the Telegraph launched a new Saturday Review section featuring a ‘What’s on’ guide and a seven-day television and radio listings guide.
September also saw the Guardian raise its Monday to Friday cover price to £1, blaming the continuing advertising downturn for the increase.
The NRS figures show that the paper’s readership dipped 7.9% in the year to the end of September, to 1.1 million.
Mid-Market Daily Titles
Looking at the Mid-Market, the Daily Mail remains the second most read of all the dailies, although its readership fell 5.3% year on year to 4.9 million readers.
The Daily Express was relatively static year on year, losing just 7,000 readers. Its total now stands at around 1.6 million.
Popular Daily Titles
On the up in the Popular sector was the Daily Star, which grew its total readership by 9.1% year on year, to 1.5 million.
Still the most read daily national newspaper, the Sun‘s readership was however down by around 2% year on year, to 7.8 million.
Also suffering falls were the Daily Record and Daily Mirror, with declines of 10.5% and 4% respectively.
The Daily Mirror now has 3.5 million readers, while the Daily Record‘s total is nearer 1 million.
| Daily Titles | Oct 07-Sep 08 | Oct 08-Sep 09 | Actual Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,048,000 | 1,843,000 | -205,000 | -10.0 |
| Financial Times | 387,000 | 433,000 | 46,000 | 11.9 |
| Guardian | 1,240,000 | 1,142,000 | -98,000 | -7.9 |
| Independent | 722,000 | 636,000 | -86,000 | -11.9 |
| Times | 1,764,000 | 1,802,000 | 38,000 | 2.2 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,605,000 | 1,598,000 | -7,000 | -0.4 |
| Daily Mail | 5,212,000 | 4,936,000 | -276,000 | -5.3 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 3,623,000 | 3,477,000 | -146,000 | -4.0 |
| Daily Record | 1,173,000 | 1,050,000 | -123,000 | -10.5 |
| Daily Star | 1,417,000 | 1,546,000 | 129,000 | 9.1 |
| Sun | 7,949,000 | 7,798,000 | -151,000 | -1.9 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
In the Sunday national newspaper market, just two titles added readers over the past twelve months.
The biggest decline of the Sunday papers was for the Independent on Sunday in the Quality sector.
Quality Sunday Titles
The Independent on Sunday lost around 15% of its readers year on year, leaving it with a total of 619,000.
The Observer was down 2.3% to 1.3 million, while the Sunday Telegraph shed around 6% of its readers to rest at a total of 1.6 million.
News International’s Sunday Times bucked the trend, however, with a 2.1% increase in readers, to 3.2 million.
Mid-Market Sunday Titles
Both Mid-Market titles in our analysis lost readers, with the Mail on Sunday down 4.2% year on year and the Sunday Express falling 8%.
The Mail on Sunday now has a total of 5.4 million readers, while the Sunday Express has 1.6 million.
Popular Sunday Titles
The Daily Star Sunday continues to perform well, with a 2.6% uplift in readers, giving it a total of 894,000.
While the News of the World still has a massive 7.6 million readers, it suffered a year on year fall of 1.9%.
The Sunday Mirror lost 4% of its readership, leaving it at 3.8 million, while the People was down 8.3% to 1.4 million.
| Sunday Titles | Oct 07-Sep 08 | Oct 08-Sep 09 | Actual Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday | 727,000 | 619,000 | -108,000 | -14.9 |
| Observer | 1,366,000 | 1,335,000 | -31,000 | -2.3 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,767,000 | 1,662,000 | -105,000 | -5.9 |
| Sunday Times | 3,165,000 | 3,231,000 | 66,000 | 2.1 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday | 5,677,000 | 5,441,000 | -236,000 | -4.2 |
| Sunday Express | 1,771,000 | 1,629,000 | -142,000 | -8.0 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 871,000 | 894,000 | 23,000 | 2.6 |
| News Of The World | 7,807,000 | 7,660,000 | -147,000 | -1.9 |
| People | 1,541,000 | 1,413,000 | -128,000 | -8.3 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,000,000 | 3,840,000 | -160,000 | -4.0 |