ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: September 2007

Daily Newspaper Market

Latest ABC figures for the main national daily newspapers show that circulation declined overall by 1.5% for September, with titles affected across the sectors.

All Quality daily titles, with the exception of the Financial Times, which pushed its circulation up by more than 2%, experienced a year on year downturn for the month.

Both Mid-Market titles saw their total ABCs fall, whilst the Daily Star and the Sun were the only Popular titles to remain fairly static.

Quality Daily Titles

The Financial Times was the only Quality title to weather the storm of declining print circulation, pushing its total ABC up by 2.1% year on year.

The business broadsheet, which underwent a redesign in April this year (see Redesign And Marketing Push To Modernise Financial Times) before a price hike in June (see Financial Times To Raise Price), now holds a circulation of more than 440,000.

Elsewhere, the Guardian suffered the most significant percentage decline in the sector, of more than 5.5%, or more than 21,500 copies, to take its total to a little over 367,500.

However, new research released yesterday from Nielsen//NetRatings found that the Guardian remains the most popular national UK newspaper website – as it has been for each of the past 12 months – with 2.7 million unique visitors in August (see Guardian Remains Most Popular National UK Newspaper Website).

The Independent also recorded a slump of more than 5% for September, circulating almost 13,600 less copies. Its total now stands at around 251,500.

The Times was also down, by around 28,850 issues, leaving its final figure at 654,482, whilst the Daily Telegraph leads the pack with a circulation of almost 891,000, despite a decline year on year of 1.2%.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

Both Mid-Market titles recorded a downturn in circulation year on year for September, with the Daily Mail losing the most copies in real terms.

The Daily Mail shed around 2% of its total, or more than 45,100 copies, taking its total to more than 2.3 million – still far ahead of its rival.

Mail stablemate, the Daily Express, lost just 0.5% of its total, which now sits at almost 815,000.

Popular Daily Titles

The only title in the Popular daily sector to buck the generally depressed trend was the Daily Star, which added just over 3,100 copies year on year for the month to take its total to 803,726.

Meanwhile, the most significant real term decline was seen by the Daily Mirror, which dropped almost 49,000. Its total now stands at more than 1.5 million.

Market-leader, the Sun, shed just over 3,100 issues, leaving its total at over 3.2 million.

The Daily Record shed around 16,100 editions, taking its total to 412,332.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The Sunday national newspaper market was down 2.5% year on year for September, a real term decline of almost 297,600.

Just four Sunday titles managed to avoid shedding copies from their total circulation figures.

The biggest increase was enjoyed by the Daily Star Sunday, which was up by around 81,200 copies year on year.

Quality Sunday Titles

The only title in the Quality Sunday sector to record a year on year increase was the Observer, which was up by around 3%, taking its total to more than 472,200.

The Independent On Sunday declined by almost 9% year on year, to leave it with a circulation of almost 213,600.

The Sunday Telegraph was down by almost 31,600 copies year on year, leaving it with a total circulation of just over 644,800.

September saw Sunday Telegraph editor Patience Wheatcroft resign after 18 months in the job, to be replaced by Ian MacGregor, deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph (see Wheatcroft Resigns As Sunday Telegraph Editor).

However, the largest real-term drop in the Quality Sunday sector was suffered by the Sunday Times, which shed more than 80,200 copies year on year. Its circulation now stands at more than 1.2 million copies.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

Of the Mid-Market Sunday titles, the Mail On Sunday stayed relatively static year on year, with its circulation resting at over 2.3 million.

The other title in the sector, the Sunday Express, saw its circulation fall to just over 727,400 copies, after a year on year decline of around 13%.

Popular Sunday Titles

The most significant news in the Sunday Popular sector was the continued success of the Daily Star Sunday, which was up by around 81,200 copies year on year, taking its circulation to around 485,400.

The Sunday Mirror added around 1% to its total year on year, meaning its circulation now rests at over 1.4 million.

The largest drop in circulation of all the Sunday Popular titles was recorded by the People, which was down by almost 100,000 copies year on year. Its total now stands at more than 722,100 copies.

The News Of The World also felt a year on year decline, of over 66,400 copies year on year. However, it should be noted that it still has the largest circulation of any of the Sunday titles, at more than 3.4 million copies.

Six Monthly Year On Year Analysis

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