ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: April 2008

Daily Newspaper Market

Britain’s national daily newspapers suffered a downturn in circulation of almost 1% year on year in April, according to the latest ABC data.

Only two daily titles managed to buck the downward trend on display, with the Sun boosting its circulation by almost 3% year on year.

There was a relatively large decline for the Daily Express, down by nearly 4.5% year on year.

Quality Daily Titles

All of the Quality daily titles saw their circulations fall in April, with the Guardian experiencing the greatest percentage downturn in the sector.

It fell by just over 4% year on year, leaving its total at around 351,000 copies.

The Daily Telegraph was down by 3% year on year, or more than 27,000 copies, to leave its circulation at almost 872,000.

The Financial Times and the Independent were down, by 1% and 2.5% year on year respectively.

The Financial Times now has a total circulation of more than 448,000 while the Independent‘s stands at more than 243,000.

Meanwhile, the Times shed almost 11,000 copies from its total in April, giving it a circulation of just over 618,000.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

In the Mid-Market, the Daily Express was down by almost 33,000 copies for the month to give it a circulation of around 727,000.

There was good news for the Daily Mail though, as it added 24,000 copies to its total, giving it an ABC figure of over 2.3 million.

Popular Daily Titles

All of the titles in the Popular sector were down for April, apart from the Sun.

The paper, which has the highest daily circulation in Britain, saw its total increase by around 3% year on year, or 84,000 copies, to over 3.1 million.

It was not such great news for the rest of the Popular titles though, with falling circulations the norm.

There was a relatively large decline for the Daily Star, of 5.2% year on year, while the Daily Mirror‘s circulation fell by around 4% year on year.

The Daily Star now has a total of more than 730,000 copies while the Daily Mirror‘s rests at around 1.5 million.

The Daily Record now has a total circulation of around 396,000 copies following a year on year dip of 2%.

Sunday Newspaper Market

Overall, the Sunday sector took a relatively big hit, with circulations falling by almost 4% year on year.

None of the titles in our analysis managed to record an increase for the month.

The People and the Sunday Express both suffered large percentage downturns, of around 8.5% and 9% respectively.

Quality Sunday Titles

The biggest fall in the Quality sector was felt by the Independent On Sunday, dropping 8% year on year, to around 225,000 copies.

The Observer and the Sunday Times were both down by around 2.5% year on year, taking their circulations to 452,000 and 1.2 million respectively.

The Sunday Telegraph‘s circulation now stands at almost 637,000 copies following a fall of over 30,000 copies.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

As well as a drop of around 9% for the Sunday Express, which took its total to almost 674,000 copies, the Mail On Sunday was also down, by around 2% year on year.

It now has a total circulation of just under 2.3 million.

Popular Sunday Titles

The News Of The World remains the Sunday title with the highest circulation, although it dipped by 2.5% in April, to around 3.2 million.

The People now reports a circulation of almost 659,000, after dropping almost 63,000 copies year on year.

The Daily Star Sunday shed around 22,000 issues, almost 6% of its total year on year for April, while the Sunday Mirror was down around 4.5%

The titles now report totals of more than 361,000 and 1.3 million respectively.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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