ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: September 2009

Daily Newspaper Market

The overall daily newspaper market dipped by 1.2% in September period on period, with just two titles bucking the overall downward trend.

The Financial Times and the Guardian both reported period on period increases, of 3.2% and 1.1% respectively.

Daily Titles	Sep-08	Aug-09	Sep-09	YoY Actual Change	YoY % Change	PoP Actual Change	PoP % Change
Quality
Daily Telegraph	851,254	814,087	801,782	-49,472	-5.8	-12,305	-1.5
Financial Times	429,381	395,845	408,544	-20,837	-4.9	12,699	3.2
Guardian	348,878	311,387	314,963	-33,915	-9.7	3,576	1.1
Independent	220,957	187,837	186,490	-34,467	-15.6	-1,347	-0.7
Times	638,033	576,185	571,506	-66,527	-10.4	-4,679	-0.8
Mid Market
Daily Express	739,025	730,234	712,023	-27,002	-3.7	-18,211	-2.5
Daily Mail	2,241,788	2,171,686	2,159,931	-81,857	-3.7	-11,755	-0.5
Popular
Daily Mirror	1,440,651	1,324,883	1,306,394	-134,257	-9.3	-18,489	-1.4
Daily Record	380,849	347,302	341,101	-39,748	-10.4	-6,201	-1.8
Daily Star	731,433	886,814	863,559	132,126	18.1	-23,255	-2.6
Sun	3,154,998	3,128,501	3,079,451	-75,547	-2.4	-49,050	-1.6
Total Daily	11,177,247	10,874,761	10,745,744	-431,503	-3.9	-129,017	-1.2

Source: ABC

Quality Daily Titles

The quality sector enjoyed a good month in September, with two of the five titles increasing their circulation figures.

The Financial Times gained more than 12,500 new readers, pushing its total circulation up to around 408,500 copies.

The Guardian, meanwhile, posted a smaller increase of 3,500 copies, which takes it total to almost 315,000 copies.

INM’s Independent remains the lowest circulated title in the sector with 186,000 copies after a 0.7% period on period fall.

The Times dropped by a similar 0.8% during the period but still boasts a total circulation of more than 571,500 copies.

However, the Daily Telegraph holds on to its crown of the top-selling quality newspaper with a circulation of over 801,000 copies, despite a 1.5% period on period decline.

Mid-Market Daily Titles

The Daily Express suffered  a fairly substantial 2.5% decline in September, which takes its total down to around 712,000 copies and widens the gap with its rival Mid-Market title.

The Daily Mail did report a slight dip of 0.5% period on period but maintains an impressive total of more than 2.1 million copies.

Popular Daily Titles

All of the titles in the Popular sector reported period on period declines in September.

The Daily Star suffered the largest percentage drop over the month, down by 2.6% to 863,000 copies.  However, the title did record an 18% year on year increase.

The Daily Record, meanwhile, slipped by 1.8% period on period, taking its total down to 341,000 copies.

The Daily Mirror and The Sun also witnessed period on period losses, of 1.4% and 1.6% respectively.  However, both titles managed to retain healthy circulations of 1.3 million and 3 million.

The Sun may have lost almost 50,000 copies in September, but its total is still above the 3-million copy mark, which makes it easily the largest-selling daily national newspaper.

Sunday Newspaper Market

The overall Sunday newspaper sector also suffered a period on period decline in circulation, but only dipped by 0.1%.

Three of the Sunday titles – the Observer, the Sunday Times and the News of the World – all managed to record increases over the period.

Sunday Titles	Sep-08	Aug-09	Sep-09	YoY Actual Change	YoY % Change	PoP Actual Change	PoP % Change
Quality
Independent On Sunday.	182,511	160,809	156,433	-26,078	-14.3	-4,376	-2.7
Observer	453,071	361,761	385,617	-67,454	-14.9	23,856	6.6
Sunday Times	1,221,493	1,164,831	1,207,141	-14,352	-1.2	42,310	3.6
Sunday Telegraph	621,660	599,131	599,380	-22,280	-3.6	249	0.0
Mid Market
Mail On Sunday.	2,239,071	2,013,742	2,012,741	-226,330	-10.1	-1,001	-0.0
Sunday Express	655,380	646,861	619,032	-36,348	-5.5	-27,829	-4.3
Popular
Daily Star Sunday.	382,251	401,305	384,575	2,324	0.6	-16,730	-4.2
News Of The World	3,242,085	3,120,991	3,129,162	-112,923	-3.5	8,171	0.3
People	625,580	586,414	563,877	-61,703	-9.9	-22,537	-3.8
Sunday Mirror	1,315,906	1,237,227	1,221,676	-94,230	-7.2	-15,551	-1.3
Total Sunday	10,939,008	10,293,072	10,279,634	-659,374	-6.0	-13,438	-0.1

Source: ABC

Quality Sunday Titles

Only one title in the Quality sector reported a period on period drop.  The Independent on Sunday suffered a higher percentage fall than its sister title of 2.7%, taking its total down to 156,000 copies.

The Sunday Telegraph, meanwhile, only added 250 copies to remain static at 599,000 total copies.

However, the remaining two titles enjoyed circulation growth in September.  The Observer enjoyed a substantial 6.6% period on period rise, a real term increase of almost 24,000 copies, which takes its total up to more than 385,000 copies.

The Sunday Times also recorded a period on period increase, up 3.6% to over 1.2 million copies, making it the largest-selling quality title.

Mid-Market Sunday Titles

The Sunday Express recorded the biggest percentage decline in the overall Sunday market – falling 4.3% period on period in September to around 619,000 copies.

Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday lost just 1,000 copies, which leaves its total circulation at a fairly static 2 million copies.

Popular Sunday Titles

Only one title in the Popular sector recorded a period on period increase.  The News of the World managed to gain more than 8,000 copies, taking its total up to a market-leading 3.1 million copies.

The Daily Star Sunday, meanwhile, witnessed a fairly substantial 4.2% period on period decline during the same period.  Its circulation now stands at around 384,000 copies.

The People lost the most amount of readers in the Sunday Popular market – more than 22,000 copies – after a 3.8% fall, taking its total down to below 564,000 copies.

Lastly, the Sunday Mirror was down by a smaller 1.3% period on period and still boasts a healthy circulation of more than 1.2 million copies.

Daily Titles	Apr 08 – Sep 08	Mar 09 -Aug 09	Apr 09 – Sep 09	Actual Change	% Change	PoP Actual Change	PoP % Change
Quality
Daily Telegraph	861,341	807,328	814,440	-46,901	-5.4	7,112	0.9
Financial Times	435,864	411,098	407,250	-28,614	-6.6	-3,848	-0.9
Guardian	345,362	332,790	327,937	-17,425	-5.0	-4,853	-1.5
Independent	233,555	198,445	194,947	-38,608	-16.5	-3,498	-1.8
Times	620,073	588,471	583,094	-36,979	-6.0	-5,377	-0.9
Mid Market
Daily Express	738,924	727,824	725,284	-13,640	-1.8	-2,540	-0.3
Daily Mail	2,267,502	2,178,462	2,181,091	-86,411	-3.8	2,629	0.1
Popular
Daily Mirror	1,461,729	1,331,108	1,324,819	-136,910	-9.4	-6,289	-0.5
Daily Record	389,720	350,306	347,081	-42,639	-10.9	-3,225	-0.9
Daily Star	735,048	855,511	863,805	128,757	17.5	8,294	1.0
Sun	3,133,776	3,052,480	3,054,488	-79,288	-2.5	2,008	0.1
Total Daily	11,222,894	10,833,823	10,824,236	-398,658	-3.55	-9,587	-0.1

Source: ABC

Sunday Titles	Apr 08 – Sep 08	Mar 09 -Aug 09	Apr 09 – Sep 09	Actual Change	% Change	PoP Actual Change	PoP % Change
Quality
Independent On Sunday.	202,094	163,898	161,719	-40,375	-20.0	-2,179	-1.3
Observer	439,840	405,017	396,285	-43,555	-9.9	-8,732	-2.2
Sunday Times	1,179,545	1,204,249	1,197,863	18,318	1.6	-6,386	-0.5
Sunday Telegraph	627,405	598,898	603,031	-24,374	-3.9	4,133	0.7
Mid Market
Mail On Sunday.	2,225,834	2,039,449	2,042,464	-183,370	-8.2	3,015	0.1
Sunday Express	662,675	640,242	637,071	-25,604	-3.9	-3,171	-0.5
Popular
Daily Star Sunday.	380,273	381,938	386,265	5,992	1.6	4,327	1.1
News Of The World	3,196,787	3,026,264	3,047,961	-148,826	-4.7	21,697	0.7
People	642,483	585,521	582,263	-60,220	-9.4	-3,258	-0.6
Sunday Mirror	1,326,689	1,234,077	1,232,683	-94,006	-7.1	-1,394	-0.1
Total Sunday	10,883,625	10,279,553	10,287,605	-596,020	-5.5	8,052	0.1

Source: ABC