ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: March 2006

Daily Newspaper Market

Britain’s daily newspaper market suffered a year on year dip of 3.18% in circulation overall during March, marking a continued struggle for the industry against sliding sales.

The popular sector suffered the worst downturn, with all four national titles suffering a decline in sales.

Elsewhere, the Daily Express notched up the largest individual sales downturn, with a loss of 11.4% year on year pushing the title’s circulation to 831,923.

There were some upturns however, with the Guardian and the Financial Times achieving increases of 3.5% and 2.8% respectively.

The Daily Mail also recorded a rise in sales, adding 0.6% year on year to total just under 2.4 million.

Quality Daily Titles

The quality sector saw a number of declines in circulation during march, with market leader the Daily Telegraph losing 0.6% year on year, while the Independent and the Times lost 1% and 0.1% respectively.

The Financial Times and the Guardian both recorded increases, however, adding 2.8% and 3.5% to total 445,986 and 379,835.

The rise gives credence to the Financial Times’ optimistic forecasts of a return to profit this year (see Pearson Optimistic As FT Faces Break Even), while the Guardian continued to profit from its switch to Berliner format last year (see Guardian Hits Newsstands In Berliner Format).

Mid Market Daily Titles

The mid market saw mixed results in March, with the Daily Mail adding 0.6% to its total, pushing sales to just under 1.4 million.

Meanwhile, the Daily Express saw the largest individual slide in sales, losing 11.4% year on yea to hit 831,923.

Popular Daily Titles

The popular market saw declines in circulation across the board during March, with the Daily Star leading the downturn, shedding 7.2% from its total year on year.

The paper’s total now rests at 738,511, although the largest decline in real terms was recorded by the Sun, which shed 4.3% to lose 139,277 copies from its total.

The title’s circulation now stands at just over 3.1 million, its lowest circulation since January 1974.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday newspaper market looked similarly depressed in March, with the sector as a whole losing 5% from its circulation year on year.

All titles in both the mid market and popular sectors reported a slump in sales, while only the quality market’s Independent on Sunday and Observer newspapers managing to increase circulation year on year.

The Sunday Express aped the performance of its weekday counterpart to see a substantial decline of 11.9%, while the Daily Star Sunday recorded the largest single downturn of any title, losing 18% year on year.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Independent on Sunday recorded the largest rise in circulation amongst the Sunday quality titles, adding 11.3% to total 233,193 following its switch to compact format at the end of 2005 (see Independent On Sunday To Make Tabloid Switch).

The Observer was the only other quality Sunday title to see success, echoing the performance of its weekday counterpart, the Guardian, adding a respectable 6.6% year on year in the face of wide-spread decline in the Sunday market as a whole.

Elsewhere, the latest ABC results delivered poor performances for the Sunday Times and Sunday Telegraph, which saw sales dip by 3% and 4.1% respectively.

Mid Market Sunday Titles

The Sunday mid market saw declines across the board during March, as the Mail on Sunday shed 0.8% from its total, while the Sunday Express lost 11.9% in the same period. The papers now command circulations of 2.3 million and 894,364 respectively.

Popular Sunday Titles

The popular market delivered a disappointing set of results for March, with all four titles in the Sunday market recording a downturn in sales.

The Daily Star Sunday was the worst hit, losing 18% year on year to total 385,741. The People also suffered, shedding 10.9% from its total, which now sits at 849,123.

Market leader the News of the World lost 6.4% meanwhile, with its sales slumping by 236,305 in real terms to 3.5 million.

The Sunday Mirror completed the wall to wall decline, as a 4.1% downturn left the title with sales of 1.4 million.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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