National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – March 1999

Figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for March 1999 showed that, compared to February, the majority of national newspapers reported losses in sales.

There was good news for the Mirror Group’s Racing Post, which gained again month on month, climbing over 20% in March to reach a total circulation of 84,679. The News Of The World is still the most popular national newspaper, with a circulation of 4.3 million which is a head above the rest. The Sun enjoyed the largest actual gain month on month, adding 114,576 sales to its circulation, which climbed to 3.8 million.

The Scotland On Sunday and the Sunday Sport sustained the biggest proportional drops in circulation compared to February, dropping 4.78% and 4.17% respectively.

In the quality market, the Financial Times continues to perform strongly year on year, with the largest proportional rise in circulation. It rose 11.5% to 382,082. Compared with last year, the Sunday Times was the only other national in the quality sector to see a rise in its circulation, which increased by 15,929 net sales.

Both the Independent titles continued to fall. The Independent lost 5.4% of its net sales, dropping to 221,310 and its sister title the Independent On Sunday fell by 6.9% to 253,240.

The trend in the mid-market continues from the beginning of the year, with the Mail titles building on their net sales, and the Express titles suffering losses. The Sunday Express sustained the biggest proportional losses of the two. Its net sales fell by 8.8% (96,608 actual sales) to a total circulation of 1.01 million.

Year on year, the only title to show any serious proportional changes in circulation in the popular market sector was the Racing Post, which enjoyed a proportional rise of over 52% in its total circulation. As regards actual losses, the News Of The World came first, dropping a total of 157,080 sales. Year on year, the Sun failed to perform as impressively as its monthly comparison – it lost 24,517.

Industry News

Sport First, Britain’s first sports-only national paper, which launched nearly a year ago, was rumoured to be looking for investors and possibly a sale at the beginning of the month.

The Mirror Group announced that it was abandoning plans to relanch its daily sports-only title the Sporting Life.

The Guardian unveiled its spring revamp, which included increased sports and business coverage in the main broadsheet newspaper, as well as changes to its supplements.

The Financial Times Group and German publisher, Gruner & Jahr announced a joint venture involving the expansion of the Financial Times brand. The new venture will be a German language business newspaper and is to be edited by former deputy editor of the FT, Andrew Gowers.