The worst performing title was – perhaps surprisingly – the second most popular paper, the Sun. The red top was down -5%, dropping 68,000 copies on April.

The entire daily market, period-on-period, was up 0.1%, thanks to the Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror and The Sun, which all recorded small or modest gains.

After recording declining circulations across all titles in February, March was a fairly static month for newspapers. The dailies market grew a marginal 0.1% over the month.

Now entering its second year PAMCo is able to show year-on-year (YoY) data for the first time on all publisher platforms – covering smartphones, tablets, desktop and print.

The latest cross-platform audience figures for UK newsbrands show a general growth in readership – although there were numerous declines in both print and tablet readership across the market.

February may have had its hottest day on record this year, but it was a considerably cooler month for newspaper circulation – all markets recorded declines and no title was able to record any period-on-period (PoP) growth.

Freebie Shortlist – which was killed off late last year – ended up leading the market in the men’s lifestyle category as the year closed, reaching a circulation of nearly 503,300 readers.

Although the TV listings market remains in decline year-on-year (YoY), the market saw some titles record positive growth during the second half of 2018, no doubt helped by the Christmas period.

Under new reporting methodology The Economist’s combined average global circulation is 1,657,800, while Private Eye hits 234,000 in the UK.

The worst hit title in the women’s lifestyle market was Hearst’s Cosmopolitan, recording a fall in circulation of -20.5% period-on-period and a -31.6% decrease year-on-year.