May ABCs: Dailies down, Sunday titles (mostly) flying

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While the daily newspaper market suffered, the Sunday market was up 2.7% between April and May.


Daily market

No title in the quality, mid or popular markets was able to record any growth in circulation throughout May 2018. Only the Metro (UK footprint) – a freebie – was up (but negligible at +0.1%).

That said, none of the declines between April and May were too severe. In the quality market the hardest hit title was The Guardian, down -1.1% to a total circulation of just 141,000, making it the worst ranked title.

The FT was also down -1% to 181,300, while The Times was down -0.6% to 431,000 and the Daily Telegraph was pretty much steady at -0.1% and a circulation of 376,700.

Elsewhere in the mid market, the Daily Express was down -1.6 to 340,600 and the Daily Mail was down -0.9% and certainly has nothing much to worry about with a circulation of 1.28m, making it the second-best selling national newspaper after the Sun.

In the popular market the Sun was down -1.5% to 1.47m, while the Daily Star was hardest hit of all titles with a decline of -3.6% – and drop of almost 14,000 to 370,600.

Overall, the daily market was down -0.9%.

Sunday market

There was much better news in the Sunday market where eight of the 11 titles made some solid gains between April and May.

All the titles in the quality market were up, with the Sunday Times shifting an extra 38,000 copies (+5.2%) and the Sunday Telegraph 11,500 (+3.9%).

In the mid market the Mail on Sunday was up 3.7% and the Sunday Express up 5.3%, while in the popular market the Sunday Mirror shifted an extra 10,000 copies (+2%) and the Sun on Sunday an extra 19,200 (+1.5%).

Overall, the Sunday market was up 2.7%.

London Free Press

Overall the London free press market was up +0.4% in May, with no change in circulation for the Metro, while the London Evening Standard was up +2.5% and City A.M. down -4.4%.

Daily TitlesMay-17Apr-18May-18YoY Actual ChangeYoY % ChangePoP Actual ChangePoP % Change
Quality
Daily Telegraph479,271377,159376,650-102,621-21.4-509-0.1
Financial Times195,167183,140181,311-13,856-7.1-1,829-1.0
Guardian153,163142,318140,778-12,385-8.1-1,540-1.1
i267,092252,192251,793-15,299-5.7-399-0.2
Times456,925433,604431,053-25,872-5.7-2,551-0.6
Mid Market
Daily Express381,705346,307340,613-41,092-10.8-5,694-1.6
Daily Mail1,443,2131,288,8891,277,409-165,804-11.5-11,480-0.9
Popular
Daily Mirror646,179567,442564,251-81,928-12.7-3,191-0.6
Daily Record147,583130,488129,151-18,432-12.5-1,337-1.0
Daily Star429,378384,393370,640-58,738-13.7-13,753-3.6
Sun1,575,9961,496,5581,473,773-102,223-6.5-22,785-1.5
Other
Metro (UK footprint – Mon-Fri)1,480,1101,473,9561,475,870-4,240-0.31,9140.1
Total Daily7,655,7827,076,4467,013,292-642,490-8.4-63,154-0.9
National Newspaper ABC Figures – May 2018
Sunday TitlesMay-17Apr-18May-18YoY Actual ChangeYoY % ChangePoP Actual ChangePoP % Change
Quality
Observer177,670169,889170,775-6,895-3.98860.5
Sunday Times802,912734,315772,509-30,403-3.838,1945.2
Sunday Telegraph355,492291,896303,416-52,076-14.611,5203.9
Mid Market
Mail On Sunday1,239,7881,071,3231,110,637-129,151-10.439,3143.7
Sunday Express335,129299,063314,985-20,144-6.015,9225.3
Sunday Post136,388118,417116,986-19,402-14.2-1,431-1.2
Popular
Daily Star Sunday.248,111226,548223,741-24,370-9.8-2,807-1.2
Sunday People223,907188,911191,318-32,589-14.62,4071.3
Sun on Sunday1,347,7931,253,3051,272,592-75,201-5.619,2871.5
Sunday Mail157,331135,329135,197-22,134-14.1-132-0.1
Sunday Mirror562,962482,844492,435-70,527-12.59,5912.0
Total Sunday5,587,4834,971,8405,104,591-482,892-8.6132,7512.7
National Newspaper ABC Figures – May 2018
London Free PressMay-17Apr-18May-18YoY Actual ChangeYoY % ChangePoP Actual ChangePoP % Change
City A.M90,89491,21587,170-3,724-4.1-4,045-4.4
London Evening Standard903,334873,398895,329-8,005-0.921,9312.5
Metro (London)898,690891,402891,317-7,373-0.8-85-0.0
Total London Press1,892,9181,866,7831,873,816-19,102-1.07,0330.4
Free Press in London ABC Figures – May 2018
Daily TitlesDec 16 – May 17Nov 17 – Apr 18Dec 17 – May 18YoY Actual ChangeYoY % ChangePoP Actual ChangePoP % Change
Quality
Daily Telegraph465,582395,390381,594-83,988-18.0-13,797-3.5
Financial Times191,382185,846184,917-6,464-3.4-929-0.5
Guardian155,489148,524147,582-7,907-5.1-942-0.6
i265,442255,502254,238-11,204-4.2-1,264-0.5
Times446,511437,542435,972-10,539-2.4-1,570-0.4
Mid Market
Daily Express388,064359,654355,499-32,565-8.4-4,155-1.2
Daily Mail1,464,1101,335,6111,317,638-146,472-10.0-17,974-1.3
Popular
Daily Mirror694,140575,030571,069-123,071-17.7-3,960-0.7
Daily Record153,338134,228132,640-20,698-13.5-1,588-1.2
Daily Star437,811392,930387,666-50,145-11.5-5,264-1.3
Sun1,608,7901,491,4341,488,495-120,295-7.5-2,939-0.2
Total Daily6,270,6585,711,6915,657,309-613,349-9.8-54,382-1.0
National Newspaper ABC Figures – December 2017 – May 2018
Sunday TitlesDec 16 – May 17Nov 17 – Apr 18Dec 17 – May 18YoY Actual ChangeYoY % ChangePoP Actual ChangePoP % Change
Quality
Observer181,526175,421174,604-6,922-3.8-817-0.5
Sunday Times791,317740,375743,974-47,343-6.03,5990.5
Sunday Telegraph356,939304,072298,225-58,714-16.4-5,847-1.9
Mid Market
Sunday Express334,938310,815310,571-24,367-7.3-243-0.1
Mail On Sunday1,251,2221,105,5661,094,067-157,154-12.6-11,499-1.0
Sunday Post140,800123,398121,754-19,046-13.5-1,645-1.3
Popular
Daily Star Sunday.253,597236,228233,418-20,179-8.0-2,810-1.2
Sunday People233,595192,302190,940-42,655-18.3-1,362-0.7
Sun on Sunday1,365,5691,252,1841,252,518-113,050-8.33340.0
Sunday Mail163,895140,504138,815-25,080-15.3-1,690-1.2
Sunday Mirror602,389491,593489,501-112,888-18.7-2,092-0.4
Total Sunday5,675,7865,072,4565,048,387-627,399-11.1-24,070-0.5
National Newspaper ABC Figures – December 2017 – May 2018


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