ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: May 2009

Daily Newspaper Market

Overall, the daily newspaper market had a bleak month in May, falling by 4.7% year on year, with only one title bucking the downward trend.

The Daily Star reported impressive year on year growth despite several other daily titles recording significant falls.

Quality Daily Titles

The Independent saw the largest circulation percentage drop in both the Quality Daily market and the overall Daily market once again, shedding a further 36,000 copies – down 15% year on year – taking its total to just below 205,000.

All of the other titles in the Quality sector also recorded year on year declines, with the Financial Times losing a considerable 40,000 copies, leaving it with 411,000 in total.

The Times and the Guardian both witnessed a similar percentage fall of more than 5% – a real term loss of over 35,000 and 18,000 copies respectively.

After a 5.6% year on year decline, The Times‘ total circulation now stands at just over 590,000 copies, while the Guardian‘s sits at around 336,000 after a 5.1% drop.

The Daily Telegraph‘s circulation, meanwhile, dipped by just over 3% year on year despite the title’s exclusive revelations of the ongoing MP expense claim scandal.

However, the Daily Telegraph still remains the most read paper in the Quality Daily market with a circulation of more than 836,000 copies.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

In the Mid-Market sector, the Daily Express‘ circulation dipped by 2.8% year on year to just under 720,000 copies.

The Daily Mail also reported a percentage fall, down 4.2% year on year, but managed to maintain a respectable total of just below 2.2 million copies.

Popular Daily Titles

The Daily Star was the only title in the Popular sector and the overall Daily market to report a year on year increase in its circulation.

The red-top paper was up by an impressive 15.8% year on year, an increase of more than 114,000 copies, taking its total up to around 114,600 copies.

Meanwhile, its fellow popular titles reported fairly significant declines, with the Daily Mirror and Daily Record both losing more than 10% of their circulation.

The Daily Record was down by 12.4% to around 350,000 copies, while the Daily Mirror fell 10.7% year on year, a significant loss of more than 158,000 copies, but still boasts a total of around 1.3 million.

The Sun remained the daily newspaper with the highest overall circulation, despite being down by 5.2% year on year, with just under 3 million copies.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday newspaper market followed a similar pattern to the Daily market – most titles suffered significant year on year declines with the exception of one paper.

The overall Sunday market was down by 6.4% with just one title recording a slight rise in circulation.

The Sunday Times managed to defy the downturn once again, while the Independent on Sunday continued to struggle.

Quality Sunday Titles

The Independent on Sunday was down by a substantial 16.7% year on year, a real term loss of more than 33,000 copies, taking its total circulation down to around 167,000 copies in May.

The Observer also suffered a significant decline, down by 10.6% year on year to just over 405,000 copies.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph dipped by 2.6% year on year, losing around 16,000 copies, leaving it with a total of just over 619,000.

The Sunday Times proved to be the only light in a dark month for Sundays, adding over 7,600 copies to its total, giving it a circulation of almost 1.2 million.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

The Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Express were both down year on year in May.

The Mail on Sunday shed 7.7% of its circulation but still maintains a circulation of more than 2 million copies.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Express slipped by 3.3% year on year, leaving its circulation at just over 636,000.

Popular Sunday Titles

Of the Popular Sunday titles, the People and the Sunday Mirror were both down by more than 9% year on year.

The People suffered a significant 9.8% year on year decline, taking its total down to around 583,000 copies, while the Sunday Mirror saw a 9% year on year drop to around 1.2 million copies.

The Daily Star Sunday slipped by just 1.8% year on year to below 360,000 copies.

Although the News of the World once again boats the highest circulation figure in the overall Sunday sector, it suffered a 6.8% year on year fall, a real term loss of more than 214,000 copies, leaving it with a total of around 2.9 million.