National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – February 2000
Month On Month
Monthly national newspaper circulation figures for February, released by the ABC this week, show a fairly solid performance from the News International titles. The Sun, Times, Sunday Times and News Of The World all show improving sales when compared to January’s figures.
Elsewhere, the Financial Times continues to grow its circulation base, up 3.2% month on month. The largest fall in sales came from the Sunday tabloids, with the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People each shedding over 50,000 in sales.
| National Newspaper February 2000 ABC Monthly Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Jan-00 | Feb-00 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Mail | 2,353,915 | 2,401,264 | 47,379 | 2.0 |
| Daily Record | 626,646 | 625,820 | -826 | -0.1 |
| Daily Star | 502,647 | 506,799 | 4,152 | 0.8 |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,040,931 | 1,028,965 | -11,966 | -1.1 |
| Express | 1,050,846 | 1,042,191 | -8,655 | -0.8 |
| Financial Times | 435,378 | 449,151 | 13,773 | 3.2 |
| Guardian | 401,560 | 399,167 | -2,393 | -0.6 |
| Independent | 222,106 | 222,544 | 438 | 0.2 |
| Independent On Sunday | 248,630 | 249,094 | 464 | 0.2 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,323,720 | 2,359,425 | 35,705 | 1.5 |
| Mirror | 2,270,543 | 2,269,697 | -846 | -0.0 |
| News Of The World | 4,139,793 | 4,154,972 | 15,179 | 0.4 |
| Observer | 416,460 | 415,419 | -1,041 | -0.2 |
| Racing Post | 71,019 | 72,461 | 1,442 | 2.0 |
| Sport First | 85,223 | 89,961 | 4,738 | 5.6 |
| Sun | 3,557,336 | 3,592,423 | 35,087 | 1.0 |
| Sunday Business | 70,369 | 75,371 | 5,002 | 7.1 |
| Sunday Express | 974,310 | 974,865 | 555 | 0.1 |
| Sunday Mirror | 2,008,961 | 1,953,617 | -55,344 | -2.8 |
| Sunday People | 1,613,113 | 1,561,276 | -51,837 | -3.2 |
| Sunday Sport | 209,985 | 198,814 | -11,171 | -5.3 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 815,093 | 820,776 | 5,683 | 0.7 |
| Sunday Times | 1,373,900 | 1,385,679 | 11,779 | 0.9 |
| Times | 726,349 | 729,140 | 2,791 | 0.4 |
| Total | 27,612,806 | 27,578,891 | -33,915 | -0.1 |
Year On Year
Quality Market The Financial Times continues to carry the broadsheet sector in this audit, with circulation increasing by 14.8% or 55,580 copies. The Times and Sunday Times, despite looking healthy in the monthly figures, are not doing so well when compared year on year. The Times dropped more than 25,000 copies and the Sunday Times almost 10,000.
| Quality Market Sep ’99-Feb ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Sep 98 – Feb 99 | Sep 99 – Feb 00 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,046,888 | 1,033,987 | -12,901 | -1.2 |
| Financial Times | 376,635 | 432,485 | 55,850 | 14.8 |
| Guardian | 396,433 | 397,830 | 1,397 | 0.4 |
| Independent | 220,911 | 224,609 | 3,698 | 1.7 |
| Independent On Sunday | 253,527 | 251,133 | -2,394 | -0.9 |
| Observer | 405,362 | 413,489 | 8,127 | 2.0 |
| Sunday Business | n/a | 64,858 | n/a | n/a |
| Sunday Telegraph | 822,014 | 822,124 | 110 | 0.0 |
| Sunday Times | 1,373,529 | 1,363,969 | -9,560 | -0.7 |
| Times | 753,701 | 727,901 | -25,800 | -3.4 |
| Total | 5,649,000 | 5,732,385 | 83,385 | 1.5 |
Mid Market The Mail On Sunday has started to flounder a little, upsetting the two Mail titles’ long-running dominance of the mid-market newspapers. However, the two Express papers continue to shed sales at a greater rate and the Daily Mail is still performing strongly.
| Mid Market Sep ’99-Feb ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Sep 98 – Feb 99 | Sep 99 – Feb 00 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Mail | 2,355,596 | 2,370,731 | 15,135 | 0.6 |
| Express | 1,105,594 | 1,047,355 | -58,239 | -5.3 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,340,839 | 2,321,188 | -19,651 | -0.8 |
| Sunday Express | 1,014,170 | 972,395 | -41,775 | -4.1 |
| Total | 6,816,199 | 6,723,323 | -92,876 | -1.4 |
Popular Market The popular tabloids continue to take a hammering with all but the specialist Racing Post showing declining circulations year on year. Most significant of these are the News Of The World, Sun and Sunday People, which all saw sales plummet by more than 110,000 copies.
| Popular Market Aug-Jan ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Sep 98 – Feb 99 | Sep 99 – Feb 00 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Record | 679,211 | 634,026 | -45,185 | -6.7 |
| Daily Star | 545,515 | 513,882 | -31,633 | -5.8 |
| Mirror | 2,310,094 | 2,280,244 | -29,850 | -1.3 |
| News Of The World | 4,244,920 | 4,102,787 | -142,133 | -3.3 |
| Racing Post | 71,042 | 72,881 | 1,839 | 2.6 |
| Sport First | n/a | 91,847 | n/a | n/a |
| Sun | 3,680,980 | 3,568,695 | -112,285 | -3.1 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,994,983 | 1,980,646 | -14,337 | -0.7 |
| Sunday People | 1,699,450 | 1,572,980 | -126,470 | -7.4 |
| Total | 15,226,195 | 14,817,988 | -408,207 | -2.7 |
Industry News
- Times Launches £2m Branding Campaign
- Daily Mail Gets Go Ahead On BUP Bid
- Feature: Metros May Boost Regional Morning Market
- Media Groups Line Up For Belfast Telegraph
- Trinity Mirror And IPA Agree Payment Terms Over Birmingham Papers
- Telegraph Adopts New Advertising Strategy For 2000
- The Word Set To Close
- Amra Restructures Sales Teams
- Final Three Suitors Line Up For Belfast Telegraph
- Final Three Suitors Line Up For Belfast Telegraph
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