National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – July 2000
Month on Month
National newspapers showed a decrease in sales across the sector of 3.5% for the month of July. Figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) showed that around half of all national titles saw their circulation fall. The most significant exception was Sport First which fought back from a drop in last month’s ABC figures (see National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – June 2000) with a rise of 10.2%, or just over 5,000 readers.
Losses in readership were heavy at the Financial Times, which dropped well over 15,000 readers, or 3.4%. The Sunday Business, meanwhile, fell 7.1%. One of the best performances was registered by the Mirror, which gained nearly 70,000 readers, a rise of 3.1%.
| National Newspaper July 2000 ABC Monthly Comparisons | ||||
| Title | June 2000 | July 2000 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 1,075,536 | 1,032,361 | -43,175 | -4.0 |
| Daily Mail | 2,393,790 | 2,420,112 | 26,322 | 1.1 |
| Daily Record | 614,212 | 611,031 | -3,181 | -0.5 |
| Daily Star | 525,318 | 540,642 | 15,324 | 2.9 |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,029,108 | 1,023,793 | -5,315 | -0.5 |
| Financial Times | 462,090 | 446,359 | -15,731 | -3.4 |
| Guardian | 393,385 | 390,841 | -2,544 | -0.6 |
| Independent | 225,898 | 222,950 | -2,948 | -1.3 |
| Independent On Sunday | 243,154 | 237,080 | -6,074 | -2.5 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,302,663 | 2,322,065 | 19,402 | 0.8 |
| Mirror | 2,229,568 | 2,298,858 | 69,290 | 3.1 |
| News Of The World | 3,980,899 | 4,018,174 | 37,275 | 0.9 |
| Observer | 429,478 | 430,340 | 862 | 0.2 |
| Racing Post | 83,559 | 77,256 | -6,303 | -7.5 |
| Sport First | 52,404 | 57,733 | 5,329 | 10.2 |
| Sun | 3,569,884 | 3,589,773 | 19,889 | 0.6 |
| Sunday Business | 63,804 | 59,243 | -4,561 | -7.1 |
| Sunday Express | 975,471 | 951,782 | -23,689 | -2.4 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,890,995 | 1,930,810 | 39,815 | 2.1 |
| Sunday People | 1,505,608 | 1,508,868 | 3,260 | 0.2 |
| Sunday Sport | 195,316 | 193,536 | -1,780 | -0.9 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 801,591 | 801,872 | 281 | 0.0 |
| Sunday Times | 1,340,554 | 1,312,513 | -28,041 | -2.1 |
| Times | 723,928 | 719,632 | -4,296 | -0.6 |
| Total | 27,108,213 | 26,165,263 | 132,586 | -3.5 |
Year on Year
Quality Market
A modest year on year increase of 1.1% was recorded by the quality newspaper market. Financial titles the Sunday Business and the Financial Times showed growth, despite faring less well in a month on month analysis (see above). Readership for the titles grew by 19.7% (11,000 readers) and 19.1% (73,000 readers) respectively, year on year. A less spectacular, but still reasonable increase was shown by the Observer which added a year on year increase of 4.4% or 18,000 readers.
A branding campaign launched by the Times 6 months ago (see Times Launches £2m Branding Campaign) has yet to show an effect on its year-on-year figures, which fell 1.7%. A similar number of readers were lost at the Daily Telegraph, which dropped 1.2%.
| Quality Market Feb 00-Jul ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Feb 99 – Jul 99 | Feb 00 – Jul 00 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,044,188 | 1,031,202 | -12,986 | -1.2 |
| Financial Times | 385,667 | 459,240 | 73,573 | 19.1 |
| Guardian | 396,366 | 394,874 | -1,492 | -0.4 |
| Independent | 223,564 | 224,342 | 778 | 0.3 |
| Independent On Sunday | 247,339 | 246,716 | -623 | -0.3 |
| Observer | 399,519 | 417,224 | 17,705 | 4.4 |
| Sunday Business | 55,691 | 66,654 | 10,963 | 19.7 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 817,437 | 808,038 | -9,399 | -1.1 |
| Sunday Times | 1,361,134 | 1,359,640 | -1,494 | -0.1 |
| Times | 734,317 | 721,606 | -12,711 | -1.7 |
| Total | 5,665,222 | 5,729,536 | 64,314 | 1.1 |
Mid Market
The mid-market titles showed a small overall drop of 0.1% year on year. Losses for the Express titles of 2.7% for the Daily Express and 2.6% for the Sunday Express were counteracted to some extent by gains of 1.4% in Daily Mail readership and 0.8% for the Mail on Sunday.
| Mid Market Feb’00-Jul ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Feb 99 – Jul 99 | Feb 00 – Jul 00 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 1,092,247 | 1,062,260 | -29,987 | -2.7 |
| Daily Mail | 2,354,275 | 2,386,770 | 32,495 | 1.4 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,279,623 | 2,297,650 | 18,027 | 0.8 |
| Sunday Express | 1,000,535 | 974,188 | -26,347 | -2.6 |
| Total | 6,726,680 | 6,720,868 | -5,812 | -0.1 |
Popular Market
The most haemorrhaging of readers took place in the popular market, which dropped 3.6% overall. Sport First was an exception, adding 5,000 or 7.7% to its readership. However Sunday title the Sunday Sport dropped 7.2%, while the Sunday People fell 6.1%, dropping 100,000 readers.
The year has seen a sudden change of editor at News of the World (see News Of The World Editor Quits), with new broom Rebekah Wade proving she is nothing if not controversial. Unfortunately, her title’s circulation has not done well in year on year analysis, falling 3.4%, or 140,000 readers. Stablemate the Sun also fell, by 4%.
| Popular Market Feb 00-Jul ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Feb 99 – Jul 99 | Feb 00 – Jul 00 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Record | 657,524 | 617,724 | -39,800 | -6.1 |
| Daily Star | 524,110 | 521,163 | -2,947 | -0.6 |
| Mirror | 2,329,659 | 2,263,498 | -66,161 | -2.8 |
| News Of The World | 4,163,381 | 4,022,529 | -140,852 | -3.4 |
| Racing Post | 80,009 | 81,283 | 1,274 | 1.6 |
| Sport First | 66,137 | 71,228 | 5,091 | 7.7 |
| Sun | 3,716,368 | 3,568,882 | -147,486 | -4.0 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,970,377 | 1,927,009 | -43,368 | -2.2 |
| Sunday People | 1,622,252 | 1,522,954 | -99,298 | -6.1 |
| Sunday Sport | 211,999 | 196,812 | -15,187 | -7.2 |
| Total | 15,341,816 | 14,793,082 | -548,734 | -3.6 |
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