National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – May 2001
Month on Month
National newspaper circulation data for May 2001 has now been released. The figures reveal a continuing decrease in circulation across all titles in a month on month analysis, falling 1.8% or just over 450,000.
The greatest loss in terms of percentage change in circulation was at the Sunday Express, which lost 10.8% of its circulation month on month. This equates to a loss in numbers of 108,595.The biggest loss in terms of numbers of copies sold was at the News Of The World which saw circulation drop of by 139,881 to see over all circulation dip well below 4m.The Sunday Mirror saw the biggest increase in terms of numbers of copies sold upping circulation by 21,144. The Sunday Sport saw the greatest percentage rise in circulation with an increase of 5.5%, pushing the total number of copies sold to 195,768.
| National Newspaper May 2001 ABC Monthly Comparisons | ||||
| Title | April 2001 | May 2001 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 983,890 | 956,239 | -27,651 | -2.8 |
| Daily Mail | 2,445,421 | 2,415,273 | -30,148 | -1.2 |
| Daily Record | 600,285 | 593,961 | -6,324 | -1.1 |
| Daily Star | 588,727 | 595,236 | 6,509 | 1.1 |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,020,800 | 1,020,363 | -437 | -0.0 |
| Financial Times | 482,086 | 486,725 | 4,639 | 1.0 |
| Guardian | 401,665 | 403,210 | 1,545 | 0.4 |
| Independent | 226,007 | 226,433 | 426 | 0.2 |
| Independent On Sunday | 250,514 | 252,672 | 2,158 | 0.9 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,388,529 | 2,328,604 | -59,925 | -2.5 |
| Mirror | 2,217,761 | 2,193,228 | -24,533 | -1.1 |
| News Of The World | 4,039,298 | 3,899,417 | -139,881 | -3.5 |
| Observer | 450,410 | 453,095 | 2,685 | 0.6 |
| Racing Post | 80,550 | 80,944 | 394 | 0.5 |
| Sport First | 80,069 | 74,726 | -5,343 | -6.7 |
| Sun | 3,493,559 | 3,447,499 | -46,060 | -1.3 |
| Sunday Business | 55,586 | 56,348 | 762 | 1.4 |
| Sunday Express | 1,008,572 | 899,977 | -108,595 | -10.8 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,844,799 | 1,865,943 | 21,144 | 1.1 |
| Sunday People | 1,404,914 | 1,372,032 | -32,882 | -2.3 |
| Sunday Sport | 185,593 | 195,768 | 10,175 | 5.5 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 809,615 | 794,653 | -14,962 | -1.8 |
| Sunday Times | 1,394,107 | 1,361,281 | -32,826 | -2.4 |
| Times | 711,365 | 706,733 | -4,632 | -0.7 |
| Total | 27,164,122 | 26,680,360 | -456,111 | -1.8 |
Year on Year
Quality Market
In year on year analysis of the quality market, the Observer and the Financial Times saw the biggest gains, with the former seeing an 8.4% improvement in circulation, representing just under 35,000 added to its total, while the latter saw a 7.1% year on year percentage increase, with 32,433 added.
At the opposite end of the scale, the largest drop in percentage increase terms was again seen at Sunday Business which dropped 19.4% year on year. The worst fall in actual circulation was at the Daily Telegraph, which lost 14,736 leaving it with a total of 1,018,088.
| Quality Market Dec 00 – May 01 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Dec99-May00 | Dec00-May01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,032,824 | 1,018,088 | -14,736 | -1.4 |
| Financial Times | 453,933 | 486,366 | 32,433 | 7.1 |
| Guardian | 395,674 | 399,295 | 3,621 | 0.9 |
| Independent | 223,581 | 224,832 | 1,251 | 0.6 |
| Independent On Sunday | 249,182 | 249,450 | 268 | 0.1 |
| Observer | 410,700 | 445,273 | 34,573 | 8.4 |
| Sunday Business | 68,721 | 55,397 | -13,324 | -19.4 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 814,944 | 804,591 | -10,353 | -1.3 |
| Sunday Times | 1,366,499 | 1,379,305 | 12,806 | 0.9 |
| Times | 720,383 | 718,536 | -1,847 | -0.3 |
| Total | 5,736,441 | 5,781,133 | 44,692 | 0.8 |
Mid Market
The mid market again remained relatively stable in a year on year analysis, shedding just 0.1% of its total circulation. However, the gap between the Mail titles and the Express titles continues to widen.
The Daily Express saw a 7.6% loss on the same period last year, with an actual reduction of 80,128 once again bringing circulation down to below the million mark.
The Sunday Express followed suit with a loss of 5.4% or 52,917 copies to 923,295.The Daily Mail added 2.2% or 52,999 to its circulation which now stands at almost 2.5m. The Sunday Mail added 72,121 or 3.1% to reach 2.36m.
| Mid Market Dec 00 – May 01 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Dec 99-May 00 | Dec 00-May 01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 1,054,286 | 974,158 | -80,128 | -7.6 |
| Daily Mail | 2,362,944 | 2,415,943 | 52,999 | 2.2 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,290,881 | 2,363,002 | 72,121 | 3.1 |
| Sunday Express | 976,612 | 923,695 | -52,917 | -5.4 |
| Total | 6,684,723 | 6,676,798 | -7,925 | -0.1 |
Popular Market
The popular market continued to slip, with year on year analysis revealing a 2.5% reduction in circulation. The Daily Star was the only title not to see its circulation drop, adding 10.6%.The Sunday People saw the largest loss, dropping 120,736 or 7.8% of its circulation. The Racing Post faired only slightly better with a reduction of 5.8% or 4,501.
| Popular Market Dec 00 – May 01 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Dec 99 – May 00 | Dec 00 – May 01 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Record | 622,337 | 600,206 | -22,131 | -3.6 |
| Daily Star | 511,748 | 566,004 | 54,256 | 10.6 |
| Mirror | 2,252,561 | 2,179,105 | -73,456 | -3.3 |
| News Of The World | 4,031,686 | 3,968,944 | -62,742 | -1.6 |
| Racing Post | 78,273 | 73,772 | -4,501 | -5.8 |
| Sport First | 82,060 | 79,296 | -2,764 | -3.4 |
| Sun | 3,536,830 | 3,498,974 | -37,856 | -1.1 |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,940,711 | 1,842,397 | -98,314 | -5.1 |
| Sunday People | 1,546,532 | 1,425,796 | -120,736 | -7.8 |
| Sunday Sport | 199,597 | 193,707 | -5,890 | -3.0 |
| Total | 14,802,335 | 14,428,201 | -374,134 | -2.5 |
Subscribers can access the Press database by selecting “Press” from the drop-down box at the top of this page.