ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: January 2012
The daily newspaper market is down -8.1% on January 2011, with just one title seeing a year on year increase.
i continues to see its circulation rise. The title is up 82.3% on this time last year, when it released its first ABC figure, and has overtaken the Guardian for the first time.
The Sunday market, meanwhile, is still seeing a positive trend from the closure of the News of the World, with the Sunday red-tops and the Sunday Express all posting year on year increases.
Daily Newspaper Market
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Quality Daily Titles
- i was the only daily title to post a YoY increase in January – up 82.3% (and 9.7% PoP)
- i has overtaken the Guardian for the first time with a total circulation of 243,000, compared to the Guardian‘s 230,000
- The Independent has seen the biggest actual loss over the year – down by almost 68,000 copies – closely followed by the FT
- Apart from i, the Telegraph was the only quality title to enjoy a PoP increase, up 1.6% on December
Mid-Market Daily Titles
- Both mid-market titles posted YoY declines – the Daily Express down -8.3% and the Daily Mail -5.9%
- The Daily Mail saw a small rise on December’s figure, up 0.8%
Popular Daily Titles
- All of the tabloids posted PoP increases but YoY declines
- The Daily Star recorded the biggest percentage drop, down -15% YoY
- However, The Sun suffered the biggest actual loss, down by 251,000 copies over the year
- Despite this, The Sun still remains the top-selling newspaper with a total circulation of 2.75 million
Sunday Newspaper Market
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Quality Sunday Titles
- All four Sunday qualities in our analysis posted circulation declines on January 2011
- The Sunday Times recorded the biggest actual loss (down 71,000 copies), while the Independent on Sunday saw the biggest percentage drop (-18.4% YoY)
- However, the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph enjoyed PoP increases
- The Sunday Times remains the most-read Sunday quality with a total of 968,000 copies
Sunday Mid-Market Daily Titles
- The Sunday Express continued to benefit from the closure of the NotW, alongside the red-tops – up 10.5% YoY (although it is down -3.0 PoP)
- Contrary to early predictions, the Mail on Sunday has not had the same luck. The title is down -1.9% YoY – although it remains the most-read Sunday title with a total circulation of 1.92 million
Popular Sunday Titles
- The popular Sunday market continues to enjoy significant YoY gains – with the Daily Star Sunday up by more than 103%
- The People is up 54% and the Sunday Mirror 60% on January 2011
- However, the People did post a small dip on December, down -1.2%
- The Sunday Mirror remains the top-selling Sunday tabloid with a total of 1.75 million copies
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Your Comments
There are many ways to compare the circulation of national newspapers. Yes the headline figure doesn’t take into account the many ways to camouflage what is really going on with sales. However, I read The Guardian spokes person’s reply to the ABC article and thought I would make a few statements for readers to consider…
- Although there are many pages to the ABC report, the very first table details overall circulation per issue (as it always has). Therefore, it is only realistic that comments will be made about the relevance of this figure. GN&M are represented on the ABC Council, so they have a way to influence and change this practice should they so wish.
- For most of the quality titles (other than The Independent ones) costly bulks have been stripped out. Ceasing bulks can aid profitability – or stem losses – but GN&M needs a bigger bazooka than that to stop hemorrhaging money (annual loss for the year ending March 2011 was £33 million).
- Yes the total circulation figure for ‘i‘ does include 47,000 ‘bulks’. However, in its stage of development you could argue this is a legitimate sampling exercise.
- The news that ‘i‘ circulates more than The Guardian for the first time is one of those headline milestones. It highlights more The Guardian‘s rapid move away from print to digital products. I predict that for one month this year The Guardian will dip under 200,000 on circulation – year on year it is down nearly 50,000 copies or 17.7%. I think we should also celebrate the innovation of ‘i‘. Yes it is 20p and an abridged version of The Independent but the newspaper market needs publishers to be creative in how they position and develop all of their products (online and offline) and how they monetise audiences.
- It is interesting that The Guardian spokes person talks about Saturday circulation – this has never been audited by ABC so something the majority of us are not privy to. The fact that The Guardian sell so many copies of their Saturday edition makes you conclude that the Monday to Friday issues are already selling less than 200k. Agencies already know this and factor it in to their negotiations. However, newspapers still resist publishing Saturday or day of week figures. Again, something GN&M can alter through the ABC Council, although it could be other newspaper groups not wanting to publish more detailed data.
- And the statement that The Guardian is a global brand. Yes, it has large international audiences but it is not a global brand… discuss?
Comparing the Guardian with the i is hugely misleading. The Guardian is a global brand with a reach of tens of millions. Our newspaper is a quality title with a cover price of £1.20, a different audience to the i and an ABC that includes zero bulk copies. The i is a 20p tabloid with tens of thousands of bulk copies padding out its numbers. A better comparison would be with the Independent, which is consistently selling over 100K fewer copies than the Guardian each weekday, and approximately 300K fewer copies on Saturdays, despite being cheaper.