ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: April 2011

The Royal Wedding provided a boost for the national newspaper market in April, with the total daily market up 0.5% on March.

The mid-market titles, the Daily Express and Daily Mail, did particularly well during the Easter month.

The Sunday market also saw a boost in circulation – up 1.6% on last month. The Sunday Express enjoyed an uplift in sales both monthly and yearly.

Daily Newspaper Market

Quality Daily Titles

• Three of the six titles in our analysis enjoyed an increase in sales during April – the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and The Times
• The Daily Telegraph added a respectable 13,162 copies to its total generating a positive 2.1% PoP rise
• The Telegraph remains the top-selling quality title with a total circulation of 640,000 copies
• The FT and the Independent both posted YoY and PoP declines
• i saw its total fall 6% PoP in April, from 171,000 to 161,000 copies

Mid-Market Daily Titles

• It was a bumper month for the mid-market titles, which both posted PoP increases
• The Dail Mail enjoyed a YoY and PoP boost in circulation, pushing its total over the 2.1 million mark
• The Daily Express added almost 15,000 copies during the Royal month, up 2.4% PoP to 636,000

Popular Daily Titles

• Only one tabloid managed to boost sales in April – the Daily Mirror, up 1.5% PoP to 1.17 million
• The Daily Star posted the biggest YoY percentage decrease, down 15.9% to 692,000 copies
• The Sun recorded a 5.8% YoY fall (1.2% PoP) but easily remains the top-selling daily title with a total of 2.8 million

Sunday Newspaper Market

The bank holiday month provided the Sunday market with a bumper period in April, with all but two titles posting PoP increases.

The total Sunday market is up 1.6% on March, however, it is down 6.1% on this time last year.

Quality Sunday Titles

• Three of the four quality titles enjoyed PoP increases – the Independent on Sunday, the Observer and the Sunday Telegraph
• The Sunday Times was the only broadsheet to post both YoY and PoP declines
• However, The Sunday Times remains the top-selling Sunday quality with a total of more than one million copies
• The Sunday Telegraph recorded the biggest uplift in sales – up 5.7% PoP (28,000 copies) to 510,000

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

• It was a good month for the mid-market Sunday titles, particularly the Sunday Express, which was up 12.8% PoP and 4.8% YoY
• The Sunday Express added over 68,000 copies during April, taking its total to 602,000
• The Mail on Sunday enjoyed a 3% PoP rise, pushing its total back over the 1.9 million mark

Popular Sunday Titles

• Three of the four red-tops enjoyed PoP rises in April – the Daily Star Sunday, the People and the Sunday Mirror
• The News of the World suffered once again – down 2.2% PoP and 10.3% YoY
• The Sunday Mirror added the most copies during the month – over 34,000 – keeping its total above the one million mark
• However, the Daily Star Sunday posted the highest percentage increase – up 5.4% to 309,000
• Despite posting fairly substantial losses, the News of the World remains the top-selling title with a total of 2.6 million