ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: December 2010

Daily Newspaper Market

Circulation figures were down across the board once again in December. The daily newspaper market posted a 6.7% decline on last year’s pre-Christmas figures.

The total daily market was also down on November’s figures, with every title suffering a drop in circulation.

The Sunday newspaper market failed to buck the trend – the overall sector is down 6.4% on last year’s numbers.

National Newspaper ABC Figures – Dec 2010

Quality Daily Titles

• Once again, the Telegraph, The Times and the Guardian all posted substantial YoY declines during December
• The Financial Times was the least affected by the downward trend, dipping 2.7% YoY and 2.6% PoP
• The Times suffered the biggest actual drop, losing more than 73,000 readers over the year
• The Daily Telegraph remains the most popular title in the quality sector with a total circulation of 631,000

Mid-Market Titles

• The Daily Mail retained a healthy circulation of more than 2 million copies despite recording both YoY and PoP declines
• The Daily Express suffered a substantial 8% YoY decrease, taking its total below 624,000 copies

Popular Daily Titles

• The Sun holds on to its crown as the most popular daily newspaper with a total circulation of 2.7 million despite losing the most actual sales (146,000 copies)
• The Daily Star suffered the highest YoY percentage loss in the red-top sector – down 9.1%
• The Daily Record slipped below the 300,000 copies mark after a 7.8% YoY drop

Sunday Newspaper Market

The picture was much the same for the Sunday newspaper market, which saw a 6.4% decline on last year’s circulation figures.

There were losses across the board, with just one title (the Daily Star Sunday) managing a small PoP increase.

National Newspaper ABC Figures – Dec 2010

Quality Sunday Titles

• The Observer posted the highest percentage drop in the Sunday market, down by more than 14% YoY
• However, the Sunday Times witnessed the biggest loss (in terms of actual sales) – down by more than 100,000 copies
• The Independent on Sunday suffered the least, with a small 3.2% YoY decline and a slight 0.3% PoP dip
• Despite a drop in sales, the Sunday Times remains the most popular title in the sector with a total circulation of more than 1 million copies

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

• The Mail on Sunday retained a healthy circulation of just below two million copies, despite posting both YoY and PoP declines
• The Sunday Express saw a fairly substantial YoY loss – down 7.7% – but managed just a slight 0.1% PoP dip

Popular Sunday Titles

• Sales fell across the board in the red-top market, with just one exception – the Daily Star Sunday, which enjoyed a small 1.6% PoP increase
• The News of the World suffered the most substantial actual loss over the year once again (down more than 190,000 copies) but still remains the most popular Sunday title with a total of more than 2.6 million copies
• The Sunday Mirror also saw sales fall both YoY and PoP but managed to keep its circulation above the one million mark

National Newspaper ABC Figures – Jul – Dec 2010