ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: March 2008

Daily Newspaper Market

Britain’s national daily newspapers saw a 1.5% overall fall in circulation year on year in March, according to the latest figures from the ABC.

Declines were seen across all sectors, with just the Sun managing to boost its circulation, by over 2%, to almost 3.1 million.

The greatest real term downturns were recorded in the popular sector, with the Daily Star down by almost 50,000 copies and the Daily Mirror losing over 58,500.

Quality Daily Titles

All Quality dailies saw their circulation get smaller year on year for March, with the Daily Telegraph seeing the greatest actual fall in the sector.

The title dropped over 22,000 copies, a fall of 2.5%, taking its total ABC to 874,124.

The Times shed 2.7% from its total, which now stands at around 622,200.

The Financial Times and the Independent dropped around 6,100 copies each, giving them final figures of almost 455,000 and around 246,500 respectively.

The Guardian lost almost 8,100 copies, a fall of over 2%, giving the title a circulation of 358,142.

However, the newly re-branded Guardian.co.uk continues to reign supreme with 19.5 million unique users over February, with only a drop of around 200,000 since January (see Re-branded Guardian Site Continues Dominance).

Mid-Market Daily Titles

Both Mid-Market titles were down year on year for the month, with market-leader, the Daily Mail, seeing its total ABC drop to just over 2.3 million, following a 1.5% fall.

The Daily Express shed around 27,000 copies, bringing its final figure to under 732,000.

Popular Daily Titles

All Popular daily titles dropped issues from their total ABC, with the exception of Britain’s most widely circulated daily, the Sun.

The Sun‘s circulation now stands at almost 3.1 million for March, following a rise of over 2%, or over 64,000 copies. A report released in March suggested the title was planning an extensive redesign, which will see it move closer in look to News International freesheet thelondonpaper (see The Sun Planning Extensive Redesign).

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror was hardest hit, with a real-terms decline of over 58,500 editions. The title’s ABC now sits at fewer than 1.5 million copies for March 2008. The title also recently announced a relaunch, making it a full colour publication in the future.

The Daily Star dropped almost 50,000 copies, whilst the Daily Record was down by around 9,500. The papers now report total ABCs of 722,207 and 391,805 respectively.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday sector fared rather worse than its daily counterpart overall, with a 3.5% drop year on year for the month.

The Observer was the only title to record a rise, of a little over 6,000 copies.

The Sunday Express and the News of the World shed the most copies from their circulation in the Sunday sector, losing 12% and over 89,000 issues respectively.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Observer added almost 1.5% to its total circulation year on year for March, pushing its total up to 461,739.

All other Sunday Qualities were down, with the Sunday Times seeing the most significant fall, of almost 30,500 copies. Its total now stands at over 1.2 million, making it by far the market leader in the sector.

The Sunday Telegraph also recorded a downturn, of over 2.5%, whilst the Independent On Sunday fell almost 3% to under 222,000.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

The Sunday Express dropped 12% from its total year on year for the period, taking its total to around 685,000.

Market-leader, the Mail On Sunday, dropped over 40,000 issues year on year, with its circulation now just above 2.2 million.

Popular Sunday Titles

The Popular Sunday titles all suffered declines for the period, with the News of the World recording the greatest real terms fall.

The titles remains the most circulated of the Sundays with an ABC of over 3.2 million, despite the drop of over 89,000 copies year on year.

The People shed around 72,000 issues, almost 10% of its total year on year for March, whilst the Daily Star Sunday was down almost 4%.

The Sunday Mirror now reports a circulation of a little over 1.3 million, after dropping almost 42,000 copies year on year.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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