March ABCs: The final pre-lockdown figures

Measurement body ABC has released its final pre-lockdown figures for newsbrand circulations, covering a reduced reporting period of three weeks (March 2-22) as part of “temporary amends” during the COVID-19 crisis.

According to ABC, the shorter period contains market activity prior to tightened Government restrictions and so is comparable to February’s data.

Overall, the daily national news market dropped -1.5% over the three weeks. Unsurprisingly The Metro was hit the worst – down -6.6% or 93,000 copies – most likely due to early social distancers and subsequently fewer commuters. The newsbrand recorded a circulation of 1.3m.

The Financial Times also saw its circulation slide, down -5.6% or 8,600 copies to 146,000.

The rest of the daily market held fairly steady over the period, with no other significant declines. Only The Guardian and The Times saw notable growth in their circulations, up 2.4% to 130,000 and 1.6% to 366,000, respectively.

Meanwhile the Sunday market remained flat, recording a small 0.1% growth overall.

Of the Sunday titles, the Daily Star Sunday grew its circulation the most – up 3.5% to 164,000, an extra 5,600 copies – while the Sunday Express climbed 2.6% to 252,000 and the Sunday Times rose 2.2% to 648,000.

The largest declines in the market belong to the Sunday People, down -1.7% to 135,000, and the Sun on Sunday, down -0.9% to just over 1m.

Elsewhere, the London free press plummeted -9.2%. The London Evening Standard fell -11.1% to 700,000, a loss of 87,000 copies, and the Metro (London) dropped -7.5% to just under 800,000, a loss of 65,000 copies.

According to ABC, from March 23 until further notice all newsbrands which report monthly will transfer to “COVID-19 reporting”, with the data presented on special COVID-19 certificates and published to the normal monthly schedule.

“Due to the highly unusual circumstances, this data is not seen as comparable to normal conditions. Consequently, it won’t be included in our standard reports and there’ll be no year on year comparisons,” the circulation measurement body said.

“These reporting changes have been implemented so that we can support the industry as effectively as possible during this pandemic.”