ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: October 2009

Daily Newspaper Market

October saw the daily newspaper market fall by 3.2% overall on the same period last year.

In the popular sector, the Daily Star enjoyed a large year on year circulation increase, although it was down slightly on September.

Elsewhere, the Guardian fell 12% year on year, although it did better when looking at a month on month comparison.

Quality Daily Titles

In the quality sector, the Guardian now has a total circulation of just under 312,000 following a 1% period on period dip.

Also down year on year was the Times, falling 9.2%. It was static period on period, however, at almost 572,000 copies.

Down by 8.9% and 8.6% year on year were, respectively, the Daily Telegraph and Financial Times. The FT was also up period on period, though, by around 1%.

The FT‘s circulation now stands at almost 413,000 copies, while the Telegraph has a total of less than 768,000.

Similarly, while the Independent suffered a year on year fall of 7%, it saw a slight boost period on period, of 0.3% at around 187,000.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

In the mid-market, the Daily Express fell both year on year and month on month, by around 6% and 2%, leaving its circulation at 698,000.

The Daily Mail, meanwhile, saw its circulation fall year on year by 27,000 copies – or 1.2% – to around 2.16 million, although it was relatively static month on month.

Popular Daily Titles

The star of the show was the Daily Star, enjoying a 20% year on year increase in circulation, taking its total to well over 836,000, although like the rest of the popular daily titles, it was down slightly on last month.

The Sun is edging nearer to falling below the 3 million mark, with a 1% year on year dip leaving its total at around 3.02 million.

The Daily Record, down by around 9% year on year, now has a total circulation of just over 339,000, while the Daily Mirror shed 8.7% of its circulation year on year, leaving its total at just under 1.3 million.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The overall Sunday newspaper sector suffered a 5.1% year on year circulation decline in October.

Only one of the Sunday titles, the Daily Star Sunday, managed to post a year on year increase.

Quality Sunday Titles

All of the titles in the Quality sector reported year on year declines.  The Observer suffered the highest percentage fall – dropping by a substantial 19.4% – which takes its total down to below 367,000 copies.

The Observer‘s poor results come in the same week as its publisher Guardian News & Media announces cuts.

GNM plans to make more than 100 staff redundant, as well as cutting content, such as the Observer‘s Music Monthly, Woman and Sport Monthly magazines, Escape travel section and the separate business and personal finance section.

The title will now only feature four weekly supplements – news, sport, the Review and Observer Magazine, as well as the Observer Food Monthly.

The cuts at the Observer are expected to make savings in excess of £2 million.

The Sunday Telegraph, meanwhile, recorded a 6.4% year on year downturn – a real term loss of more than 40,000 copies, which leaves it with around 588,500 copies.

The Independent on Sunday witnessed a fairly similar percentage drop of 5.4% year on year.  However, the title did manage a slight period on period increase of 0.2%.  Its total circulation now sits at almost 157,000 copies.

The Sunday Times remains well ahead of its rivals with an impressive circulation of nearly 1.2 million copies, although it also suffered a year on year drop in October, down 3.4%.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

The Sunday Express recorded an 8.3% year on year decline to around 614,000 copies in October.

The Mail on Sunday, meanwhile, dipped by 4.6% year on year.  However, the Sunday paper managed to post a decent period on period increase of 5.1% and gain more than 103,000 copies, which takes it up to a healthy 2.1 million copies.

Popular Sunday Titles

Only one title in the Popular sector recorded a year on year increase.  The Daily Star Sunday was up by nearly 3% in October – a real term gain of more than 10,000 copies.

However, the title suffered a hit in October and was down by 5.2% period on period.  As a result, its total has fallen to below 365,000 copies.

Meanwhile, the People was down by a fairly substantial 10.2% year on year.  Its total circulation now sits at around 552,000 copies.

The Sunday Mirror was also down, falling 6.4% year on year.  However, the title still boasts a healthy circulation of more than 1.2 million copies.

Lastly, The News of the World retained the highest circulation in the overall Sunday sector with a total of more than 3 million, despite posting a 2.4% dip in October.