ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: March 2012

The daily newspaper market is down -7.4% on March 2011, with just one title posting an increase over the year. i continues to see its circulation rise. The title is up 59.7% on this time last year (it released its first ABC figure in January 2011). Postively, a number of titles saw their circulation figures increase PoP.

The Sunday market, meanwhile, now includes the edition of Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun (Sunday), which sold 3.21 million copies in its first week. That figure was down to 2.7 million on 4 March – its second week.

In this ABC release, The Sun (Sunday) has posted a -24.5% PoP decline. Overall, the Sunday market is up 37.7% YoY.

Daily Newspaper Market

Quality Daily Titles

• i enjoyed a 59.7% YoY increase to 273,793 copies
• The Independent saw the biggest actual fall, losing 81,000 copies
• The Times remained below the 400,000 mark after a 11.7% YoY drop
• The FT and The Guardian are both down by more than -16%
• The Daily Telegraph is down around 50,000 readers (-8% YoY)

Mid-Market Daily Titles

• The Daily Express is down -10% YoY; while the Daily Mail is down -4.3% YoY

Popular Daily Titles

• The Daily Record enjoyed a 0.9% PoP increase but is down -5.8% on March 2011
• The Sun also saw a PoP increase – up 1.3% – despite being down -7.2% YoY (203,000 readers)
• The Daily Star posted the highest percentage fall, down -12.1% YoY to 614,300 readers
• The Daily Mirror recorded a 72,000 drop in readers (-6.2% YoY)

Sunday Newspaper Market

• The Sunday Times suffered the biggest actual loss in February, down by more than 103,000 copies
• The Observer posted a significant percentage decline in the month, down -15.2% YoY
• The Independent on Sunday also saw a substantial -18.4% drop YoY but managed to boost its circulation during the month – up 0.5%
• The Sunday Telegraph recorded a -6.3% YoY fall and a higher -19.5% PoP decline

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

• The Sunday Express saw a -5.5% YoY drop and a -11.2% PoP fall
• The Mail on Sunday posted a -3.3% YoY and -3.1% PoP decline

Popular Sunday Titles

• The Daily Star Sunday posted a 64.7% YoY increase but a -19.3% PoP drop
• The Sunday Mirror also enjoyed a 4.1% YoY rise but a -30.6% PoP decrease
• The People was down both YoY and PoP (-2.9% and -33.8% respectively)
• News International’s new The Sun (Sunday) suffered a -24.5% PoP drop – although February’s ABC figure only featured the launch issue, which sold a high of 3.21 million copies