ABC: Guardian and ‘i’ see yearly growth

The Guardian and the ‘i‘ record small year-on-year increases in the latest ABC figures, as the Sun’s monthly figures slide -7.4%.

Daily titles

In the quality market, the Independent’s sister paper, ‘i’, was the only title to see any growth in circulation for the month, up 0.6% PoP – an addition of 1,800 copies. The paper also recorded growth of 0.6% over the year.

The Guardian’s -5.5% PoP decline saw the paper lose over 11,500 copies to its average circulation in February, however, the title saw yearly growth, despite a cover price hike, of 1.5%.

A -2.6% PoP loss meant that the Daily Telegraph was down by over 14,000 in February, taking its total circulation to just over 530,000.

The mid market saw the Daily Mail lose 53,500 copies in February after a -3% PoP dip, while the Daily Express was down -1.7% PoP, losing 8,600.

In the popular market, the most significant decline in circulation belonged to the Sun, which was down -7.4% PoP to lose almost 165,000 copies – the biggest loss of all the daily titles.

A -10.2% decline also meant that the paper was down 233,000 year on year to record an overall average circulation of just over 2 million.

Overall the daily titles were down -4% PoP and -7.5% YoY.

London Free Press

Following on from January’s success, a big boost in circulation for the London Evening Standard meant that the London Free Press was up both PoP and YoY – 3.5% and 5.6%, respectively.

Adding an extra 59,000 copies to its circulation over the month, the Evening Standard recorded a total circulation of over 800,000.

A -0.5% PoP loss saw City A.M record an overall circulation of 118,500 in February, while a -0.1% decline saw the Metro secure just under 770,000.

Sunday titles

All but three titles in the Sunday national newspaper market recorded any increase in month on month circulations.

The Sunday People saw the strongest growth, up 1.4% on January, selling an extra 5,123 copies. However, like every title in the market, recorded yearly losses.

The paper’s current circulation now stands at 379,943.

The Sunday Times was up 1%, an extra 8,244 copies, and has secured a circulation of almost 826,000 (down -5.7% year on year).

The Sunday Express also saw growth, although only slight. Selling just over 1,800 more copies than in January, the paper was up 0.4%.

The biggest loss in February belonged to the Sun on Sunday, down -5.9%, more than 105,500 copies. The title was down -11.4% over the year but still leads the popular market by some margin, selling over 1,695,000 copies.

The entire Sunday market was down -1.8% PoP, and -8.7% YoY.