ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: July 2009

Daily Newspaper Market

The daily newspaper market was up slightly period on period in July, by 0.3%, although it suffered a fall of 2.3% year on year.

The Daily Star once again enjoyed a big year on year increase in its total circulation in July, up 20%.

Elsewhere, there was a large loss for the Independent over the same time-frame – it shed about 46,000 readers year on year.

Quality Daily Titles

The Daily Telegraph‘s circulation fell 4.5% year on year to just under 819,000 copies, while the Times was down by around 5% year on year to under 581,000 copies.

The Financial Times and the Guardian were also down year on year, by around 6% and 2.7% respectively.

The FT now has a total circulation of around 398,000, while the Guardian‘s is nearer 329,000.

July was another poor month for the Independent. It shed almost 20% of its total circulation to leave it at 189,000 copies.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

Although the Daily Express was down slightly year on year, by 0.2%, it did manage to increase its circulation by 0.6% period on period, to 734,000 copies.

Fellow mid-market title the Daily Mailwas down by around 4% year on year, to under 2.2 million copies.

Popular Daily Titles

In contrast to most of the other national newspapers, the Daily Star had a great month, recording circulation growth of 20% year on year and a period on period rise of 1.9%. Its circulation now stands at more than 887,000 copies.

The Sun, while down slightly year on year, managed to record a period on period increase of 3.1%, taking its total to over 3.1 million copies.

It was a similar story with the Daily Mirror, down 7.2% year on year but up 0.7% period on period, to 1.3 million copies.

It was not such as successful period for the Daily Record down 10.4% year o year and 1.2% period on period, to leave its circulation at around 343,000 copies.

Sunday Newspaper Market

As with the daily newspaper market, overall the Sunday newspaper sector recorded a year on year decline in circulation – of 3.7% – but managed a period on period rise, of 0.7%.

Like its sister title, the Daily Star Sunday outperformed the rest of the populars, with a year on year increase of 6.6%.

In the quality sector, the Sunday Times also bolstered its circulation figure with a year on year rise.

Quality Sunday Titles

Although all the titles in the quality sector were down period on period, the Sunday Times did record a year on year rise, of 2.7%, taking its total to almost 1.2 million.

The Sunday Telegraph fell by 2.8% year on year, to 602,000 copies, while the Observer declined 7% to under 399,000 copies.

There has been much speculation recently that parent company Guardian News & Media could close or sell off the Observer in order to protect other parts of the business.

The Independent on Sunday was down a hefty 20% year on year to around 160,000 copies.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

In the mid-market, the Mail on Sunday was down 7.5% year on year and around 1% period on period to around 2 million copies, while the Sunday Express was down 1.5% year on year to 645,000 copies. It was up period on period, however, by around 1%.

Popular Sunday Titles

Up by 6.6% year on year and 7.4% period on period, it was a good month for the Daily Star Sunday. It now has a circulation of around 414,000 copies.

The News of the World and the People were both down year on year, by 2.5% and 7% respectively. However, they both recorded period on period increases, of 2.8% and 1.4%.

The News of the World‘s circulation now stands at 3.1 million while the People‘s is nearer 595,000 copies.

Although the Sunday Mirror was down by 5.2% year on year, it was relatively static month on month at around 1.2 million.