ABC Regional Newspapers: July-December 2008

The latest regional ABC figures, for July to December 2008, show that the Nottingham & Long Eaton Topper is Britain’s top regional title.

In the top ten regional newspaper groups, Northcliffe Media Group – Free titles remains well ahead of other regional publishers, with more than 2.6 million copies.

Just two of the top ten regional newspaper groups recorded increases during the period, with one remaining static and several suffering significant period on period declines.

LSN Full Group was up by 3.2% period on period, a real term increase of more than 13,000 copies, taking its total circulation to just over 425,000.

The Midlands News Association Group also saw a small increase, of 0.2% period on period, gaining around 1,400 copies to take its total to nearly 600,000, while the Chronicle Newspapers Group remained static at 473,000 copies.

However, all the other groups in the top ten witnessed downturns this period, with three groups suffering declines of more than 15%.

The Observer Standard Newspapers Limited Group was down by almost 16%, a real term loss of more than 88,000 copies, leaving it with around 469,000, while KM All Free Recruitment Group was down by 16.6% period on period to around 384,000 copies.

Archant London Group also suffered a significant loss, falling by almost 18% to 444,000.

However, Northcliffe Media Group – Free Titles had the highest circulation this quarter with more than 2.6 million copies, despite losing over 154,000 copies and being down by 5.4% period on period.

Northcliffe Media South East Group came second in the sector with 809,000 copies, despite also being down by 5.9% period on period.

The top regional newspaper title was the Nottingham & Long Eaton Topper, which has a total circulation of almost 211,000 – well ahead of the other titles in the sector – after dipping just 0.5% period on period.

Only three titles in the top ten regional titles enjoyed period on period circulation increases.

Edinburgh Herald & Post was up 0.9% period on period to more than 129,000 copies, while the Milton Keynes Citizen and the Sheffield Weekly Gazette saw increases of 1.0% and 1.4% respectively.

The Milton Keynes Citizen gained more than 1,000 copies, taking its total to around 104,000, while the Sheffield Weekly Gazette‘s circulation now stands at more than 105,000.

However, two of the titles in the top ten suffered relatively large real-term period on period declines, compared to others in the table.

The Coventry Times was down by 2.2%, a real term loss of more than 2,600 copies, taking its total to 119,000, while the Manchester Evening News (Mon-Sat) was down by 4.8% period, a real term loss of more than 7,800 copies.

The Manchester-based regional title remains second in the sector, according to total circulation, despite suffering the biggest real term loss in the top ten.