ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: April 2012

The daily newspaper market is down -7.6% on April 2011, with just one title posting an increase over the year. i continues to see its circulation rise. The title is up 68.6% on this time last year (it released its first ABC figure in January 2011). Postively, a number of titles saw their circulation figures increase slightly 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) posted a -5.3% PoP decline. Overall, the Sunday market is up 31.6% YoY.

Today’s ABC release also includes a Monday-Friday average and a Saturday average for the first time – confirming the significant uplift of Saturday newspaper editions, with The Guardian more than doubling its weekday circulation on a Saturday.

Daily Newspaper Market

Quality Daily Titles

• i enjoyed a 68.6% YoY increase to 271,648 copies (it was down -0.8% PoP)
• The Daily Telegraph was the only quality to enjoy a small PoP uplift of 0.1%
• The Independent saw the biggest actual fall, down 82,000 copies (-45.4% YoY)
• The Times remained below the 400,000 mark after a 12.6% YoY drop
• The Guardian posted an -18.9% YoY decline, taking its total to 214,000 copies
• The FT recorded a -17.8% YoY drop (over 66,000 copies)

Mid-Market Daily Titles

• The Daily Express saw its circulation fall -10.5% YoY, while the Daily Mail is down -5.2% YoY; however, both titles enjoyed PoP increases of 1.8% and 2.0% respectively.

Popular Daily Titles

• The Sun enjoyed a small PoP increase – up 0.4% – while the Daily Mirror remained static PoP
• The Daily Record posted a -4.4% PoP drop, while the Daily Star saw a smaller -0.5% PoP fall
• Over the year, The Sun has seen the biggest actual loss (-159,102 copies) but remains the biggest-selling daily title with a total circulation of 2.6 million

Sunday Newspaper Market

• Three out of the four Sunday qualities enjoyed small PoP increases. The Observer posted a 0.6% PoP rise, while the Sunday Telegraph saw a 0.8% PoP increase.
• The Sunday Times posted the highest PoP percentage increase, up 2.9%, but also suffered the biggest actual loss in April, down by almost 63,000 copies
• The Independent on Sunday recorded a -21.0% YoY and -2.5% PoP decline

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

• The Sunday Express saw a 5.1% YoY rise but a -12.0% YoY fall
• The Mail on Sunday posted a -7.4% YoY and -1.3% PoP decline

Popular Sunday Titles

• The Daily Star Sunday posted a 55.9% YoY increase to over 482,000 copies
• The Sunday Mirror recorded a -0.8% YoY and -1.6% PoP decrease; while the People suffered a -3.8% YoY and 0.4% PoP decline
• News International’s The Sun (Sunday) recorded a -5.3% PoP drop