Today’s ABC release paints a fairly mixed picture for the regional newspaper market, though some newspaper groups performed particularly well during the July to December period.
A few individual titles also had a positive six-months, namely the Shropshire Star, which posted a 54.8% period on period increase in circulation.
This period has seen 49 closures and 29 mergers within the regional newspaper market.
Regional Newspaper Groups
- 5 of the top 10 regional newspaper groups recorded period on period increases
- Echo Newspapers Free Newspaper Group enjoyed the biggest rise, up 40% PoP (60,000 copies)
- Newsquest Midlands South and Midland News Association Group also performed well, up 10.5% and 7.3% PoP
- Northcliffe Media Group – Free Titles still leads the groups with a total circulation of almost 1.8 million, despite a 4.8% PoP fall
- In second place, MEN Weekly Free Newspapers Group suffered the highest percentage drop, down 11.7% PoP to 544,000 total copies.
| Title | Jan 10 – Jun 10 | Jul 10 – Dec 10 | Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northcliffe Media Group – Free Titles | 1,873,814 | 1,783,092 | -90,722 | -4.8 |
| MEN Weekly Free Newspapers Group | 615,776 | 543,784 | -71,992 | -11.7 |
| Northcliffe Media South East Group | 520,373 | 502,596 | -17,777 | -3.4 |
| Midland News Association Group | 468,234 | 502,542 | 34,308 | 7.3 |
| Chronicle Newspapers Group | 404,850 | 404,431 | -419 | -0.1 |
| Newsquest Midlands South | 264,473 | 292,178 | 27,705 | 10.5 |
| KM Extra Group (Kent) | 271,478 | 260,920 | -10,558 | -3.9 |
| North East Press Ltd | 219,937 | 222,445 | 2,508 | 1.1 |
| Echo Newspapers Free Newspaper Group | 148,844 | 208,528 | 59,684 | 40.1 |
| Nottingham & Long Eaton Recorder Group | 193,202 | 193,264 | 62 | 0.0 |
| Total | 4,980,981 | 4,913,780 | -67,201 | -1.3 |
Regional Newspaper Titles
- Shropshire Star provided the best results of the top ten titles, up 54.8% PoP – an increase of 35,000 copies
- Milton Keynes Citizen and MK News also put in a good performance, up 9.1% and 4.8% respectively
- Leading the titles, the Nottingham & Long Eaton Topper also enjoyed a small increase, up 0.2% to 213,000 copies
- 6 of the top 10 regional titles posted PoP percentage declines
- Manchester Evening News (Mon-Sat) suffered the highest fall, down by 3.5% – a real term loss of 3,400 copies
- However, most of the losses were fairly small compared to the last release (Jan-Jun 2010)
| Title | Jan 10 – Jun 10 | Jul 10 – Dec 10 | Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nottingham & Long Eaton Topper | 212,266 | 212,793 | 527 | 0.2 |
| Nottingham Recorder | 145,615 | 145,080 | -535 | -0.4 |
| Lambeth Life | 115,995 | 114,927 | -1,068 | -0.9 |
| Wirral Globe | 113,324 | 113,157 | -167 | -0.1 |
| Milton Keynes Citizen | 97,714 | 106,646 | 8,932 | 9.1 |
| MK News | 94,497 | 99,071 | 4,574 | 4.8 |
| Shropshire Star | 63,384 | 98,111 | 34,727 | 54.8 |
| Manchester Evening News (Mon-Sat) | 96,719 | 93,348 | -3,371 | -3.5 |
| Liverpool Echo (Mon-Sat) | 89,140 | 87,198 | -1,942 | -2.2 |
| Derby Express | 89,279 | 86,992 | -2,287 | -2.6 |
| Total | 1,117,933 | 1,157,323 | 39,390 | 3.5 |
