ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: January 2007

Daily Newspaper Market

The start of 2007 signalled another dismal period for the nation’s daily newspapers, with the sector seeing an overall year on year circulation slip of 3.5%.

The Popular sector was the hardest hit, with sizeable declines for all titles. The Daily Mirror and the Sun both shed more than 100,000 copies year on year for January, whilst in the Mid-Market the Daily Express and the Daily Mail both experienced a downturn.

The Quality sector fared rather better, with less severe declines. The Guardian and the Times recorded the most significant losses, of more than 10,000 and 15,000 copies year on year respectively.

However, the Independent bolstered its circulation, up 2% or more than 5,000 copies. Its total now stands at more than 263,000.

Quality Daily Titles

Titles in the Quality sector felt marginal declines year on year for January, with the Guardian and the Times experiencing the largest circulation slides in real terms.

The Guardian shed almost 11,000 copies year on year to leave its circulation now standing at just over 384,000, whilst the Times lost more than 15,000 issues. Its total now sits at just over 670,000.

The Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times each saw a 0.6% drop year on year, with the titles now commanding circulations of 911,454 and 439,104 respectively.

The Independent bucked the trend, however, with its circulation rising 2% year on year for January, up by more than 5,000 copies to give the title a total figure of around 263,500.

Mid Market Daily Titles

Both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail experienced a year on year circulation slump for January, with the Daily Express suffering the most significant drop.

The Express lost more than 77,000 copies, more than 9% of its total, to leave it with a circulation of just over 770,000. The Mail shed almost 35,000 editions year on year for the month, but remains by far the market leader in the sector with a total of more than 2.3 million.

Popular Daily Titles

All titles in the Popular sector were hard hit year on year for January, with the Daily Mirrorand the Sun losing more than 100,000 copies from their totals.

The Mirror shed 6.2% from its total to leave its circulation at just over 1.6 million, whilst the Sun dropped by just over 3%. As the market leader, its total now stands at around 3.2 million.

The Daily Record and the Daily Star also saw a downturn in their circulation totals. The Record lost around 33,300 year on year, 7.4% of its total, whilst the Star‘s total fell almost 6% or by 46,433 copies. The titles now hold ABC figures of 418,628 and 773,637 respectively.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday newspaper market suffered an overall drop in circulation of 8.1% year on year for January, an actual decline of more than one million issues.

The only Sunday title to record a year on year increase was the Independent On Sunday , which saw its circulation grow by 2.7%.

The largest decline, in percentage terms, was also in the Quality sector, with the Observer falling by 18.1% year on year. In the Popular sector though, the News Of The World suffered a year on year decline of over 360,000 copies.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Independent On Sunday was the only Sunday title to show an increase in circulation in January, up by more than 6,000 copies year on year, taking its total circulation figure to almost 250,000.

The largest decline in the sector, both percentage wise and in real terms, was felt by the Observer, which dropped almost 98,000 copies from its circulation year on year, leaving it with a total of just over 444,000.

The Sunday Times also suffered a large year on year fall, of almost 69,000, although its total circulation remained the highest in the Quality sector, at just under 1.3 million.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph‘s circulation fell by almost 23,000 year on year, a drop of around 3.5%.

Mid Market Sunday Titles

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

Declines were also felt across the Popular sector, with the News Of The World suffering the largest fall of the entire Sunday market, shedding more than 360,000 copies from its total figure.

January was Andy Coulson’s last month as editor, when the News Of The World circulated around 3.4 million copies, down almost 10% from last year, when it had a circulation of more than 3.7 million. Two years ago, its ABC figure was at more than 3.8 million.

The paper has largely abandoned DVD giveaways, which is thought to have contributed to its decline.

However, it remained the Sunday paper with the highest total circulation, at more than 3.4 million.

The Daily Star Sunday was the least hard hit in the Popular sector in actual terms, shedding around 61,000 copies year on year. However, this was a drop of almost 14%. This left the title with a total circulation figure of less than 380,000.

The People was down around 15% year on year in January, an actual decline of more than 130,000 copies.

Finally, the Sunday Mirror also recorded a decline in its circulation, of over 7%, leaving it with a total figure of around 1.4 million for the month.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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