ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: August 2007

Daily Newspaper Market

August’s daily national newspaper ABCs show an overall year on year circulation downturn of 2.2%, with only the Financial Times bucking the trend by adding 2.5% to its circulation.

In the Quality sector, the Times saw the greatest actual loss of sales at over 36,000 year on year for the month, whilst the Daily Mirror and the Sun felt losses of more than 80,500 and almost 66,000 respectively in the Popular market.

Quality Daily Titles

The Financial Times managed to lift its circulation year on year in August, by almost 10,500 copies, or 2.5%, to take its total to 426,830.

However, its daily Quality stable mates recorded losses, with the Times experiencing the most significant actual decline. The esteemed title dropped more than 36,000 copies to take its total to just short of 639,000.

Meanwhile, the Independent dropped around 15,000 copies, leaving it with a final figure a little short of 240,000. The Daily Telegraph also suffered, shedding more than 10,500 to take its total above 887,500, whilst the Guardian fell by around 7,100 to leave it at 355,750.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

Both Mid-Market titles lost issues from their total ABC year on year for August, with market-leader the Daily Mail down by around 42,200. However, it still towers over its opposition with a circulation of more than 2.3 million.

The Daily Express, whilst not such a widely circulated title, dropped around 2,000 copies year on year, leaving it with a final figure of around 827,500.

Popular Daily Titles

The Daily Mirror recorded the most significant real term slide in its circulation year on year for August in the Popular sector, falling by more than 80,500 copies to take its total to over 1.5 million.

The Sun also dropped a chunk of its total, at almost 66,000. However, it remains the most widely circulation daily with a total ABC of over 3.1 million.

A year on year decline, of almost 17,000, was recorded for the Daily Record, which now sees its total stand at 416,397, whilst the Daily Star dropped just 3,200 copies, less than 0.5% of its total, which now rests at over 825,500.

Sunday Newspaper Market

August saw the Sunday newspaper market decline 3.6% year on year, with just three titles enjoying circulation increases.

The Observer, Mail On Sunday and Daily Star Sunday all posted year on year rises.

The largest increase was for the Daily Star Sunday, which was up by more than a quarter of its total.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Observer was the only title in the Quality Sunday sector to post year on year growth, albeit not particularly high at around 0.5%. Its total figure now rests at more than 442,500.

The Sunday Times was the hardest hit in the sector, falling by 12% year on year, or around 164,400 copies, to leave it with a total circulation of just under 1.2 million copies.

The Sunday Telegraph and the Independent On Sunday were also down year on year, by around 6,600 copies and 12,300 copies respectively.

The Sunday Telegraph now has a total circulation of almost 641,400, whilst the Independent On Sunday‘s is just over 211,600.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

In the Mid-Market, the Mail On Sunday was up more than 20,200 copies year on year to take its total to 2.3 million.

The Sunday Express, meanwhile, saw its circulation head in the opposite direction, falling by around 4.5% year on year, leaving its total at almost 788,600.

Popular Sunday Titles

In the Popular sector, the Daily Star Sunday was the top performer, with a very impressive year on year rise of around 26.5%. The Sunday red-top now has a circulation of over 533,200.

The rest of the Sunday Populars did not have it so good though, with the News of the World down by more than 186,700 copies year on year and the People down by almost 14% year on year.

The News of the World now has a total circulation of more than 3.3 million copies, whilst the People‘s rests at around 741,000.

The Sunday Mirror also experienced a year on year downturn in circulation, shedding over 37,800 copies to leave it with a total of just over 1.4 million.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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