ABC Regional Newspapers: January-June 2008

The latest regional ABC figures, for January to June 2008, show that the Manchester Evening News is Britain’s top paid for regional title following the decision by ABC to combine paid-for and free distribution for the first time.

In the top ten paid regional newspaper groups, Archant London Group was up by a massive 326.1% year on year, a real term increase of more than 414,000 copies.

Speaking about the changes to the ABC methodology on a Guardian blog, Roy Greenslade said: “The net effect of the change means that it is now impossible, at a glance, to say how the regional dailies as a whole are performing because the statistics have been presented either county by county, with dailies and weeklies lumped in together, or owner by owner. Again, that makes for opacity when trying to analyse each sector.”

Just two of the top ten paid regional newspaper groups recorded year on year increases during the period, although there was staggering growth for one group under the ABC’s new methodology.

Having added more titles in this reporting period, Archant London Group was up by a massive 326.1% year on year, a real term increase of more than 414,000 copies. The group now has a total of more than 542,000 copies, putting it at the top of the sector.

Also up was the second placed Sunday World – All Editions Group, with its circulation rising 3.3% year on year to over 292,000 copies.

Kent Messenger Weekly Newspaper Group and MEN Weekly Paid Newspaper Group were up by 6% and around 3% respectively.

Kent Messenger Weekly Newspaper Group now has a circulation of over 137,000, while MEN Weekly Paid Newspaper Group’s stands at more than 111,000.

There was a relatively large decline for Derry Journal Group, falling around 9.5% year on year to under 68,000 copies.

The top paid regional newspaper title was the Manchester Evening News, which had a massive year on year increase of almost 86%, to around 161,500 copies, following the changes to ABC’s auditing system.

The title achieved such a high circulation increase in the first half of 2008 after the Audit Bureau of Circulations combined its free and paid-for circulation figures for the first time.

All the other paid for regional titles saw year on year declines, with the Belfast Telegraph experiencing the largest fall of over 9% to just under 76,000 copies.

However, The Irish Independent came in second place, behind the Manchester Evening News, despite a dip of 0.9%, giving it a total circulation of more than 159,000 copies.

Although the West Midlands Express & Star and the Liverpool Echo recorded year on year declines, both titles managed to keep their circulation figures above 100,000 copies.

The Liverpool Echo lost over 7,000 copies, down 6.6%, leaving it with a total of nearly, 102,500, while the West Midlands Express & Star experienced a fall of 3.8% to around 138,000 copies.

The Glasgow Evening Times was not far behind the Belfast Telegraph‘s figures, with a total circulation of around 72,500 copies, following an 8.4% decline. The Belfast Telegraph had a circulation of around 76,000.

The Newcastle Evening Chronicle also saw a relatively large downturn of 6%, losing more than 4,500 copies, leaving it with a total circulation of below 72,000 copies..

MEN Weekly Free Newspaper Group had the highest circulation of the free regional groups, although it was down slightly, by 0.7% year on year. Its circulation now stands at just over 730,000.

In second place, the Midlands News Association Group, fell by 4.0% year on year, leaving its circulation at around 593,500.

KM All Free Recruitment Group suffered the largest year on year decline in our analysis, at around 27% year on year, leaving its circulation at under 462,000.

There was better news for the Observer Standard Newspapers Limited Group, with a year on year increase of around 14.5% taking its total to well over 557,000 copies.

There were also year on year increases for LSN Full Group and Informer Group, of 1.6% and 2.6% respectively.

LSN Full Group now has a total circulation of around 412,000, while Informer Group’s rests at under 285,000 copies.

ABC: 01442 870 800 www.abc.org.uk