Daily Newspaper Market
The daily national newspaper market was down 5.4% year on year in March, although it recorded a 0.5% period on period increase.
Just one title, the Daily Star, was up year on year, although month on month comparisons show that seven titles enjoyed circulation growth.
| Daily Titles | Mar-09 | Feb-10 | Mar-10 | YoY Actual Change | YoY % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | |||||||
| Daily Telegraph | 764,748 | 685,177 | 686,679 | -78,069 | -10.2 | 1,502 | 0.2 |
| Financial Times | 428,766 | 390,203 | 401,286 | -27,480 | -6.4 | 11,083 | 2.8 |
| Guardian | 340,952 | 284,514 | 283,063 | -57,889 | -17.0 | -1,451 | -0.5 |
| Independent | 205,308 | 183,547 | 184,137 | -21,171 | -10.3 | 590 | 0.3 |
| Times | 600,210 | 505,062 | 502,436 | -97,774 | -16.3 | -2,626 | -0.5 |
| Mid Market | |||||||
| Daily Express | 725,841 | 672,951 | 668,273 | -57,568 | -7.9 | -4,678 | -0.7 |
| Daily Mail | 2,146,783 | 2,111,204 | 2,082,352 | -64,431 | -3.0 | -28,852 | -1.4 |
| Popular | |||||||
| Daily Mirror | 1,340,131 | 1,234,967 | 1,247,013 | -93,118 | -6.9 | 12,046 | 1.0 |
| Daily Record | 358,290 | 328,183 | 333,359 | -24,931 | -7.0 | 5,176 | 1.6 |
| Daily Star | 819,880 | 803,859 | 827,005 | 7,125 | 0.9 | 23,146 | 2.9 |
| Sun | 3,068,035 | 2,972,763 | 3,005,308 | -62,727 | -2.0 | 32,545 | 1.1 |
| Total Daily | 10,798,944 | 10,172,430 | 10,220,911 | -578,033 | -5.4 | 48,481 | 0.5 |
Source: ABC
Quality Daily Titles
In the Quality daily sector, the Financial Times was up 2.8% on February, although year on year it was down 6.4%. It now has a total circulation of more than 401,000 copies.
It was a tough month for both the Guardian and Times, down 17% and 16.3% year on year respectively. The two papers also saw their circulations fall 0.5% month on month.
The Guardian now has a circulation of 283,000 copies, while the Times‘s stands at under 503,000.
The Daily Telegraph and Independent were both down by around 10% year on year, although they managed to record slight period on period increases, of 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.
The Daily Telegraph‘s circulation now stands at around 687,000, while the Independent‘s is closer to 184,000.
Towards the end of March, Evening Standard-owner Alexander Lebedev bought the Independent and Independent on Sunday for £1 from Irish publishers Independent News & Media.
Mid-Market Daily Titles
In the Mid-Market, the Daily Express was down 0.7% period on period, to around 668,000, while the Daily Mail‘s circulation dipped 1.4% over the same time-frame, leaving it at around 2 million.
Popular Daily Titles
It was a pretty good month for the Popular titles when comparing March figures with February data, as all of the titles in our analysis recorded period on period increases.
The Daily Mirror was up 1% on February, to 1.2 million (down 6.9% year on year), while the Daily Record was up 1.6% to 333,000 (down 7% year on year).
Up 0.9% year on year and 2.9% period on period, the Daily Star now has a circulation of 827,000 copies.
The Sun, which saw its total dip to 2.97 million in February, was back past the 3 million mark in March following a 1.1% period on period increase, although it was down 2% on March 2009.
Sunday Newspaper Market
None of the Sunday national newspaper titles recorded circulation growth in March, the ABC figures show.
The Observer suffered the largest year on year decline, of 23.1%.
| Sunday Titles | Mar-09 | Feb-10 | Mar-10 | YoY Actual Change | YoY % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | |||||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 167,763 | 155,661 | 154,285 | -13,478 | -8.0 | -1,376 | -0.9 |
| Observer | 431,017 | 342,467 | 331,488 | -99,529 | -23.1 | -10,979 | -3.2 |
| Sunday Times | 1,240,348 | 1,122,165 | 1,111,660 | -128,688 | -10.4 | -10,505 | -0.9 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 577,886 | 516,238 | 509,754 | -68,132 | -11.8 | -6,484 | -1.3 |
| Mid Market | |||||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 1,997,060 | 1,978,316 | 1,952,697 | -44,363 | -2.2 | -25,619 | -1.3 |
| Sunday Express | 636,153 | 575,314 | 570,040 | -66,113 | -10.4 | -5,274 | -0.9 |
| Popular | |||||||
| Daily Star Sunday. | 362,076 | 347,374 | 341,824 | -20,252 | -5.6 | -5,550 | -1.6 |
| News Of The World | 3,016,329 | 2,993,709 | 2,904,566 | -111,763 | -3.7 | -89,143 | -3.0 |
| People | 580,815 | 541,470 | 532,140 | -48,675 | -8.4 | -9,330 | -1.7 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,228,927 | 1,155,975 | 1,147,272 | -81,655 | -6.6 | -8,703 | -0.8 |
| Total Sunday | 10,238,374 | 9,728,689 | 9,555,726 | -682,648 | -6.7 | -172,963 | -1.8 |
Source: ABC
Quality Sunday Titles
Following its hefty year on year fall, the Observer now has a circulation of under 332,000 copies. It was down 3.2% on February.
The Independent on Sunday recorded a 0.9% period on period fall in its circulation in March, leaving its total at around 154,000.
The Sunday Times also saw its total dip by 0.9%, to 1.1 million, while the Sunday Telegraph shed 1.3% of its total to leave it at around 510,000.
Mid-Market Sunday Titles
The Mail on Sunday now has a circulation of 1.9 million after a period on period fall of 1.3%, while fellow Mid-Market title the Sunday Express fell 0.9% to 570,000.
Popular Sunday Titles
In the Popular sector, the Daily Star Sunday and the People were both down by around 1.5% period on period, leaving their circulation totals at around 342,000 and 532,000 respectively.
Following a 3% period on period decline, the News of the World now has a circulation of 2.9 million, almost 2 million copies ahead of its nearest rival in the Sunday market, the Mail on Sunday.
The Sunday Mirror, meanwhile, lost 0.8% of its circulation total period on period, leaving it at around 1.1 million.
| Daily Titles | Oct 08 – Mar 09 | Sep 09 -Feb 10 | Oct 09 – Mar 10 | Actual Change | % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | |||||||
| Daily Telegraph | 777,357 | 734,991 | 712,283 | -65,074 | -8.4 | -22,708 | -3.1 |
| Financial Times | 431,865 | 400,902 | 399,471 | -32,394 | -7.5 | -1,431 | -0.4 |
| Guardian | 348,494 | 303,672 | 297,380 | -51,114 | -14.7 | -6,292 | -2.1 |
| Independent | 204,384 | 186,081 | 185,622 | -18,762 | -9.2 | -459 | -0.2 |
| Times | 612,058 | 541,416 | 527,882 | -84,176 | -13.8 | -13,534 | -2.5 |
| Mid Market | |||||||
| Daily Express | 732,886 | 687,543 | 679,085 | -53,801 | -7.3 | -8,458 | -1.2 |
| Daily Mail | 2,158,354 | 2,136,189 | 2,120,885 | -37,469 | -1.7 | -15,304 | -0.7 |
| Popular | |||||||
| Daily Mirror | 1,365,201 | 1,258,992 | 1,247,277 | -117,924 | -8.6 | -11,715 | -0.9 |
| Daily Record | 357,629 | 328,879 | 327,363 | -30,266 | -8.5 | -1,516 | -0.5 |
| Daily Star | 752,748 | 817,574 | 810,314 | 57,566 | 7.6 | -7,260 | -0.9 |
| Sun | 3,024,000 | 2,989,347 | 2,974,721 | -49,279 | -1.6 | -14,626 | -0.5 |
| Total Daily | 10,764,976 | 10,385,586 | 10,282,283 | -482,693 | -4.48 | -103,303 | -1.0 |
Source: ABC
| Sunday Titles | Oct 08 – Mar 09 | Sep 09 -Feb 10 | Oct 09 – Mar 10 | Actual Change | % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality | |||||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 169,777 | 155,833 | 155,449 | -14,328 | -8.4 | -384 | -0.2 |
| Observer | 434,906 | 363,650 | 353,279 | -81,627 | -18.8 | -10,371 | -2.9 |
| Sunday Times | 1,212,861 | 1,162,472 | 1,143,923 | -68,938 | -5.7 | -18,549 | -1.6 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 589,230 | 557,434 | 540,749 | -48,481 | -8.2 | -16,685 | -3.0 |
| Mid Market | |||||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 2,096,409 | 2,038,372 | 2,029,046 | -67,363 | -3.2 | -9,326 | -0.5 |
| Sunday Express | 648,627 | 597,065 | 588,347 | -60,280 | -9.3 | -8,718 | -1.5 |
| Popular | |||||||
| Daily Star Sunday. | 353,772 | 361,472 | 353,385 | -387 | -0.1 | -8,087 | -2.2 |
| News Of The World | 3,057,273 | 2,995,247 | 2,950,364 | -106,909 | -3.5 | -44,883 | -1.5 |
| People | 593,412 | 544,124 | 537,744 | -55,668 | -9.4 | -6,380 | -1.2 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,239,193 | 1,166,328 | 1,150,980 | -88,213 | -7.1 | -15,348 | -1.3 |
| Total Sunday | 10,395,460 | 9,941,997 | 9,803,266 | -592,194 | -5.7 | -138,731 | -1.4 |
Source: ABC
