National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – February 1999

The latest round of national newspaper circulation figures (September 1998 to February 1999), released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) at the end of last week, shows that January was a stronger month than February, with most titles recording circulation decreases month on month. The picture year on year is similar with most papers reporting a fall in sales.

The Financial Times continues to perform stronger than any of the other broadsheets year on year, this time reporting growth of 11.8% (almost 40,000 copies). The FT‘s parent company, Pearson, last week released financial results which showed the paper’s advertising revenue was up by 17% year on year (see Pearson’s Overseas Interests Boost Profit). The Sunday Telegraph and The Times both lost just under 60,000 in sales during this period.

The mid-market trend of some time continues this month with the Mail titles gaining as Express Newspapers’ two papers continue to lose ground. The recently-renamed Sunday Express dropped by 125,421 copies (11.0%) year on year. The Mail On Sunday gained 106,770.

All the red-tops are grappling with declining sales at the moment, notably the Sundays. The Sunday Mirror fell by over 227,000 copies, the News Of The World dropped 205,000 and the Sunday People lost 142,000.

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