ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: July 2010

Daily Newspaper Market

July was a poor month for the daily newspaper market, despite stories such as the BP oil spill and the Raoul Moat murders dominating the headlines.

As a result, the overall market is down 6.1% on this time last year, although increases among the red-tops helped provide a small 0.8% month on month increase.

Quality Daily Titles

The quality sector seemed to be most affected by the holiday season, with all titles posting year on year and month on month declines.

The Daily Telegraph continues to lead the quality end of the market with a circulation of more than 678,000, despite seeing the highest year on year percentage decline – down 17.2% (and 0.4% month on month).

The Guardian and The Times also posted hefty year on year losses – down 15.7% and 13.4% respectively. However, Rupert Murdoch’s The Times recorded the smallest month on month percentage decline in the sector, perhaps due to its digital offering moving behind a paywall in June.

The Independent, which has seen little change under its new owner Alexander Lebedev despite rumours that it might go free, fared better than most of its quality counterparts – down 2.7% year on year and 1.7% month on month.

Meanwhile, business broadsheet the Financial Times saw its circulation fall 4.8% over the year and 3.4% during the month.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

Following the overall trend, both mid-market titles posted year on year losses. However, the Daily Mail did manage to boost its circulation over the month, which has pushed its total above the 2.1 million mark again.

Popular Daily Titles

It was a different story altogether in the tabloid market, with three out of four titles seeing an increase on June’s figures.

The tail end of the World Cup and Cheryl Cole catching malaria certainly boosted the red-top market with rises for The Sun, the Daily Star and the Daily Record.

The Daily Mirror was the only title in the popular sector to follow the trend of the market – recording both yearly and monthly declines. However, it still has a healthy circulation of more than 1.2 million copies, making it the third most read newspaper in the daily market behind The Sun and the Daily Mail.

Sunday Newspaper Market

It was much the same in the Sunday newspaper market, which suffered an overall 8.4% year on year decline.

However, month on month rises in the mid-market and the popular sectors helped boost its period on period total, which is up 1.3% on June.

Quality Sunday Titles

Once again, the quality Sunday broadsheets fared worst than most with all titles recording both yearly and monthly drops.

The Observer posted the highest percentage fall of the group, down by a substantial 21% year on year and 3.7% month on month.

The Sunday Telegraph also had a poor month, down 16.1% on this time last year.

The Sunday Times and the Independent on Sunday struggled as well. Although, the Sunday Times still has a circulation of more than one million copies, which is substantially higher than its rival quality titles.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

The mid-market titles had a more successful month. Despite seeing their circulation figures drop compared with this time last year, both titles managed to increase their totals on last month’s figures.

The Mail on Sunday did particularly well with a 2.4% month on month rise, which takes its total circulation closer to the two million mark. Its total is now 1.95 million, up by over 45,000 copies on June.

Popular Sunday Titles

All of the popular titles in our report put in a good performance in July.

The Daily Star Sunday saw the highest percentage increase over the month – up 5.1% – although it also saw the biggest loss over the year.

However, the Sunday Mirror and News of the World continue to dominate the tabloid market on a Sunday despite also being down on last year’s figures.

The Sunday Mirror now boasts a total of 1.15 million, while the News of the World remains the most popular Sunday title with almost 2.9 million copies.