ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: February 2007

Daily Newspaper Market

It was a relatively dismal picture for the nation’s daily newspapers once again for February, with the market recording a 3.6% year on year slump.

The latest ABC data has revealed that the only daily title to record an increase in its circulation was the Financial Times, which saw a marginal rise in its circulation of 1%.

The Times saw the biggest year on year downturn for the month in real terms in the Quality sector, of almost 27,000 copies, whilst the Daily Mail suffered a considerable decline in its circulation, of almost 100,000 copies.

The Daily Mirror and the Sun also shed a considerable amount of issues year on year, of around 92,500 and a73,000 copies respectively.

Quality Daily Titles

Both the Times and the Guardian suffered sizeable circulation losses year on year for February, with the Times experiencing the greatest actual decline in the sector.

The Times lost almost 27,000 from its total, whilst the Guardian shed almost 5% of its total, to leave the paper with a circulation of around 365,000. The Times now records a circulation total of 642,711.

Last month the Times relaunched its Times Online website with the aim of creating a “dynamic multimedia website centred on news plus views” (see The Times Relaunches Website).

The paper’s website is blossoming, with almost 10.9 million unique users visiting the site in January, its highest recorded figure yet. This represents a growth of over three million from the previous year (see Newspapers’ Print Circulations Decline As Web Traffic Blossoms).

This week it was reported that the Guardian newspaper’s move to integrate its print and digital operations could lead to significant job losses as the group looks at cost cutting to help finance more than 100 new jobs in digital media operations (see Job Losses Expected As The Guardian Integrates Digital And Print Operations).

Whilst the title’s print circulation is slipping, its website remains the UK’s most popular online newspaper destination (see Newspapers’ Print Circulations Decline As Web Traffic Blossoms).

The Daily Telegraph and the Independent fared rather better, recording only marginal declines. The Telegraph shed less than 5,000 editions from its total, just 0.5%, to leave its circulation at around 896,500, whilst the Indy dropped less than 2,000 copies (0.7%). The paper now commands a circulation of 264,182.

The Financial Times was the only title in the Quality sector to increase its circulation year on year for the month. The business and finance broadsheet pushed its circulation total up by just 1%, or 4,439 in real terms. The paper’s ABC figure now stands at a little over 445,000.

Recently its parent company, Pearson, announced that the FT and its website recorded a £9 million increase in profits last year (see Media In The City).

Mid Market Daily Titles

Both Mid Market titles a saw significant downturn in their circulations for February, with market leader the Daily Mail dropping almost 100,000 copies from its total.

The paper’s readership now rests at over 2.3 million, whilst an 8% decline has given the Daily Express a final figure of 761,637.

Popular Daily Titles

The Daily Mirror experienced the largest circulation fall in real terms in the Popular sector, losing more than 92,500 copies from its total. The 5.6% drop leaves the title’s total at more than 1.5 million.

The greatest percentage loss in the sector came from the Daily Record, with a decline of 8.3%. The paper now has a total circulation of 412,844, after losing almost 37,500 copies year on year for February.

The Sun saw a sizeable chunk removed from its total, of around 73,000 copies year on year. However, the paper is by far the market leader with a circulation of over three million.

The Daily Star lost almost 13,000 from its total, to leave it with an end figure of almost 780,000.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday Newspaper market recorded an overall drop in circulation of 6% year on year for February, an actual decline of more than 734,000 copies.

None of the Sunday titles recorded a year on year increase for the month, with the smallest actual decline in the sector felt by the Daily Star Sunday, which was down by just over 2,600 copies year on year.

The Popular title the News Of The World recorded the largest decline in the Sunday market in actual terms, of around 259,000 copies, although it remained the market leader by some distance.

Quality Sunday Titles

The smallest loss of the Quality Sunday titles was felt by the Independent On Sunday, which was down by around 2% year on year, leaving its total circulation figure at just over 239,500.

The Sunday Times was the Quality Sunday paper to suffer the biggest actual loss year on year, of over 126,000 copies. However, its circulation remained relatively high at over 1.2 million.

The Observer was down by almost 9% year on year, or just over 42,200 copies in real terms, leaving it with a total circulation figure of more than 442,100.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph was down by around 16,000 copies year on year, to leave its total circulation at 667,692.

Mid Market Sunday Titles

In the Mid-Market sector, the Sunday Express was the hardest hit title, dropping around 5.5% year on year, which translates into just over 46,600 copies in real terms. Its total now rests at 816,351.

The Mail On Sunday fell by almost 1% year on year in February, leaving it with a total circulation of more than 2.2 million.

In the Mid-Market, the Mail On Sunday was down by over 100,000 copies year on year, although its total circulation remained high, at 2.3 million.

The Sunday Express was down by almost 10% year on year, which translates into just over 87,000 copies in real terms, leaving its circulation at around 790,000 in January.

Popular Sunday Titles

The Popular market was also down across all titles, with the News Of The World recording the largest decline of any Sunday title in real terms, shedding more than 259,000 copies. However, it remained the market leading Sunday paper with a circulation total of over 3.3 million.

The Daily Star Sunday was the least hard hit in the popular sector, both in real terms and percentage wise, with a decline in circulation of almost 1% year on year. Its total now stands at around 384,000.

The People recorded the largest percentage decline in the Sunday newspaper market, of around 15.5% year on year, to leave it with a total circulation figure of just over 746,000.

The Sunday Mirror also felt a decline, of 5.3% year on year, a drop in actual terms of over 77,000 copies, to leave its total ABC at more than 1.3 million.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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