ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: December 2006

Daily Newspaper Market

The nation’s daily newspapers once again saw their overall circulation decline, dropping by just over 3% year on year for December 2006.

It was a dismal picture across all sectors, with the Popular titles suffering the most significant losses. The Daily Mirror felt the largest dip, losing around 138,000 issues, or more than 8% from its total, to leave it with a circulation of just over 1.5 million.

The Daily Mail remained static whilst the Daily Telegraph was the only daily paper to boost to its circulation, adding around 2,100 copies.

Quality Daily Titles

The Times was the worst affected Quality title in real terms, shrinking its circulation by more than 25,500 copies or almost 4% from its total year on year for the month. The paper’s total now rests at 635,777.

The Guardian and the Independent saw their totals decrease, down by around 15,000 and 11,500 respectively. The Guardian now commands a circulation of 365,635 whilst the Independent sits at 238,756.

The Financial Times shed just 0.4% from its total, less than 2,000 copies, to leave its circulation at 437,720, whilst the Daily Telegraph added just over 2,000 copies to give it a total circulation of around 900,000 copies.

Mid Market Daily Titles

The Daily Mail remained static year on year for the month at a total circulation of around 2.3 million, whilst its Mid-Market counterpart, the Daily Express, dropped more than 26,500 copies from its total, leaving it with a figure of 773,768.

Popular Daily Titles

All Popular daily titles saw their circulations fall year on year in the last month of 2006, with the Daily Mirror suffering the worst actual decline.

The Mirror lost around 140,000 copies from its total, or 8.2%, to leave it with a circulation of more than 1.5 million. Market leader the Sun also shed copies from its total, which now rests at just over three million after a drop of more than 90,000.

The Daily Record and the Daily Star also saw their circulations dip year on year. The Record lost around 31,500 or more than 7% from its total to leave it with 407,212, whilst the Star dropped around 29,000 to leave it with 750,374.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday newspaper market experienced an overall drop in circulation of 5.1% year on year for December, a decline in real terms of 603,176.

The Mail On Sunday experienced the largest increase in real terms, with its circulation growing by around 26,000 year on year.

The biggest decline was felt by the Sunday Mirror , which lost around 190,000 from its circulation to leave it with a total of more than 1.3 million.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Observer recorded the largest increase of any Sunday Quality in December, of 1.3% year on year. The paper bolstered its total by almost 5,500 copies, giving it a circulation of 435,852.

The largest decline in real terms in the sector was felt by the Sunday Times, which fell 100,372 year on year. However it remained the Sunday Quality with the highest total circulation, of over 1.2 million.

The Independent On Sunday suffered the largest drop percentage wise of the Sunday Qualities, of 9.2% year on year, to leave it with a circulation of just under 200,000.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph‘s circulation remained fairly static, rising by just 0.2% to leave it with a total figure of around 643,000.

Mid Market Sunday Titles

In the Mid-Market, the Mail On Sunday experienced a year on year rise of 1.2% for the month, to give it a total circulation of more than 2.2 million.

However, the Sunday Express suffered a decline of almost 50,000 copies year on year, or 6.1%.Its total circulation now rests at around 760,000.

Popular Sunday Titles

All of the titles in the Sunday Popular sector suffered declines in December, with some harder hit than others.

The Sunday Mirror felt the largest actual decrease in the sector year on year, of more than 190,500, leaving it with a circulation figure of around 1.3 million.

The News Of The World remained the title with the largest circulation in the sector, at over 3.3 million, although it was down 3.7% year on year.

The Daily Star Sunday saw the smallest loss in actual terms, of around 27,000 year on year, a 7.2% drop in circulation, whilst the People suffered the largest decrease in percentage terms in the sector, of 13.5% year on year or around 119,500.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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