ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: December 2007

Daily Newspaper Market

The Financial Times once again weathered the storm of the declining print market in December, proving the only national daily to bolster its circulation year on year for the month.

The daily market was down almost 2% overall, but the business broadsheet managed to add almost 11,500 new copies to its ABC total, whilst all other papers in the market remained static or recorded a fall in circulation.

Significant downturns were seen for the Daily Mirror and the Sun, which dropped more than 43,000 and almost 47,000 copies respectively, whilst the Daily Mail remained relatively static.

Quality Daily Titles

All titles in the Quality daily market, with the exception of the Financial Times, saw a reduction in their total ABC year on year for December.

The FT, which raised its cover price last June (see Financial Times To Raise Price), and again this January (see Financial Times Cover Price Reaches £1.50), pushed its circulation up to almost 449,200, after adding 2.6% or almost 11,500 copies to its total year on year for December.

Meanwhile, the most significant actual fall of the Qualities was recorded by the Daily Telegraph, which lost almost 26,000 copies, taking its total down to 873,523 which is still the highest circulation of the Quality dailies.

The Times now reports a circulation of 615,313, following a loss just short of 20,500 year on year, whilst the Guardian dropped around 12,200, or 3.3%, to take it to under 353,500.

However, the paper’s online offering, Guardian Unlimited, remains the most visited national newspaper site in the UK with 17.5 million Unique Users, according to the ABCe (see Guardian Unlimited Records Traffic Downturn But Remains Top Newspaper Site).

The Independent also saw a fall in its total ABC, of more than 10,300 editions, taking its final figure to 228,400.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

Market leader the Daily Mail remained relatively static year on year for December, with its total standing at over 2.3 million.

Other Mid-Market title, the Daily Express, dropped 3.8% of its total, taking it down to over 744,500.

Popular Daily Titles

All titles in the Popular daily sector saw significant real term losses for December, with the Daily Mirror experiencing the highest actual fall.

The title lost almost 47,000 issues year on year for the month, taking its total under 1.5 million. The Sun also declined by more than 40,000, shedding almost 1.5% of its total to take it under the three million mark. However, despite the fall, the Sun remains the most sold national daily in the UK.

Both the Daily Record and the Daily Star also saw a dip in their total ABC for December, with the Record losing almost 21,300 – taking it to just under 386,000 – and the Star shedding almost 24,000 year on year. The Star‘s total ABC now sits at 726,465.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday newspaper market was down by more than 4.5% overall for December 2007, compared to the same period in 2006.

The Daily Star Sunday was the only one of our featured Sunday titles to enjoy a year on year increase in circulation, up by around 1.5%.

There was a relatively large decline for the New of the World, which suffered a drop in circulation of more than 213,000 copies. However, it remains the most widely circulated national title in Britain with an ABC of over 3.1 million.

Quality Sunday Titles

In the Quality sector, the Independent On Sunday remained relatively static year on year, shedding around 650 copies. Its total now rests at just over 198,200.

The largest real term declines in the Sunday Quality sector were felt by the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph, both down by around 5% year on year.

The Sunday Times now has a circulation of more than 1.1 million, while the Sunday Telegraph‘s stands at almost 611,300.

Meanwhile, the Observer‘s total fell by almost 6,500 copies year on year, to 429,420.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

Both titles in the Mid-Market Sunday sector saw year on year declines, with the Mail On Sunday down by around 1.5% and the Sunday Express down by almost 11%.

The titles now report total circulations of over 2.2 million and nearly 677,500 respectively.

Popular Sunday Titles

In the Popular sector, the People‘s circulation dropped by over 92,000 copies year on year, to around 674,800.

The News Of The World was down by more than 6% year on year, leaving its total at more than 3.1 million.

Following a relatively small year on year decline of 0.6%, the Sunday Mirror now has a circulation of more than 1.3 million, whilst the Daily Star Sunday managed to buck the trend with an increase of over 1.5%, taking its total to 360,416 copies.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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