National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – October 1999
Month On Month
The latest national newspaper circulation figures, released by the ABC yesterday, show a very slight overall decline in sales between September and October. However, for the first time in a while the Daily Mail is recording a monthly loss of sales, of just under 20,000 copies, whilst its long-suffering mid-market rival, the Express, has notched up a slight growth of around 5,000 copies.
The Financial Times, Guardian and the two Independent titles all turn in healthy monthly figures in this audit, whilst the Mirror‘s and Sun‘s circulations drop by 46,000 and 63,000 respectively.
| National Newspaper October 1999 ABC Monthly Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Sep 99 – Sep 99 | Oct 99 – Oct 99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Mail | 2,398,073 | 2,378,428 | -19,645 | -0.8 |
| Daily Record | 640,776 | 642,154 | 1,378 | 0.2 |
| Daily Star | 523,415 | 521,972 | -1,443 | -0.3 |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,044,606 | 1,034,923 | -9,683 | -0.9 |
| Express | 1,063,891 | 1,069,099 | 5,208 | 0.5 |
| Financial Times | 411,409 | 426,328 | 14,919 | 3.6 |
| Guardian | 397,177 | 403,692 | 6,515 | 1.6 |
| Independent | 222,776 | 230,677 | 7,901 | 3.5 |
| Independent On Sunday | 246,162 | 262,762 | 16,600 | 6.7 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,330,135 | 2,332,506 | 2,371 | 0.1 |
| Mirror | 2,353,905 | 2,307,901 | -46,004 | -2.0 |
| News Of The World | 4,170,112 | 4,151,230 | -18,882 | -0.5 |
| Observer | 416,091 | 414,537 | -1,554 | -0.4 |
| Racing Post | 75,068 | 73,714 | -1,354 | -1.8 |
| Sport First | 91,678 | 100,830 | 9,152 | 10.0 |
| Sun | 3,672,284 | 3,608,880 | -63,404 | -1.7 |
| Sunday Business | 58,553 | 60,011 | 1,458 | 2.5 |
| Sunday Express | 977,146 | 979,143 | 1,997 | 0.2 |
| Sunday Mirror | 2,002,028 | 2,037,172 | 35,144 | 1.8 |
| Sunday People | 1,577,849 | 1,578,741 | 892 | 0.1 |
| Sunday Sport | 211,634 | 213,689 | 2,055 | 1.0 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 826,288 | 824,754 | -1,534 | -0.2 |
| Sunday Times | 1,361,094 | 1,374,310 | 13,216 | 1.0 |
| Times | 742,511 | 735,162 | -7,349 | -1.0 |
| Total | 27,814,661 | 27,762,615 | -52,046 | -0.2 |
Year On Year
Quality Market Only the Financial Times is showing any kind of significant growth year on year, up by 10.6% or 38,000 copies. In fact, the Independent is the only other broadsheet to report an annual increase in sales for the six months to October, up by just 2,375 copies. All of the other quality papers show a fall in sales, notably the Times which lost 34,511 sales over the period.
| Quality Market May-Oct ’99 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | May 98 – Oct 98 | May 99 – Oct 99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,062,853 | 1,042,002 | -20,851 | -2.0 |
| Financial Times | 361,699 | 400,007 | 38,308 | 10.6 |
| Guardian | 393,491 | 391,908 | -1,583 | -0.4 |
| Independent | 222,188 | 224,563 | 2,375 | 1.1 |
| Independent On Sunday | 254,733 | 245,543 | -9,190 | -3.6 |
| Observer | 400,608 | 400,296 | -312 | -0.1 |
| Sunday Business | n/a | 56,658 | n/a | n/a |
| Sunday Telegraph | 833,473 | 822,021 | -11,452 | -1.4 |
| Sunday Times | 1,346,783 | 1,343,119 | -3,664 | -0.3 |
| Times | 759,507 | 724,996 | -34,511 | -4.5 |
| Total | 5,635,335 | 5,651,113 | 15,778 | 0.3 |
Mid Market Whilst the Express made a slight gain at the Daily Mail‘s expensive in the month on month figures, the year on year picture is much the same as usual with the two Mail titles performing strongly as the Express and Sunday Express both shed sales.
| Mid Market May-Oct ’99 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | May 98 – Oct 98 | May 99 – Oct 99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Mail | 2,343,494 | 2,370,695 | 27,201 | 1.2 |
| Express | 1,134,719 | 1,082,024 | -52,695 | -4.6 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,278,506 | 2,290,698 | 12,192 | 0.5 |
| Sunday Express | 1,046,385 | 993,224 | -53,161 | -5.1 |
| Total | 6,803,104 | 6,736,641 | -66,463 | -1.0 |
Popular Market Rather a bleak picture for the tabloids in this audit, with all bar the Racing Post showing declining circulations. The News Of The World and the Sunday People each lost over 135,000 sales year on year.
| Popular Market May-Oct ’99 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | May 98 – Oct 98 | May 99 – Oct 99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Record | 675,065 | 637,112 | -37,953 | -5.6 |
| Daily Star | 566,305 | 526,007 | -40,298 | -7.1 |
| Mirror | 2,351,815 | 2,346,970 | -4,845 | -0.2 |
| News Of The World | 4,242,893 | 4,106,937 | -135,956 | -3.2 |
| Racing Post | 74,998 | 77,324 | 2,326 | 3.1 |
| Sport First | n/a | 78,252 | n/a | n/a |
| Sun | 3,698,300 | 3,666,189 | -32,111 | -0.9 |
| Sunday Mirror | 2,006,776 | 1,997,098 | -9,678 | -0.5 |
| Sunday People | 1,734,032 | 1,597,958 | -136,074 | -7.8 |
| Total | 15,350,184 | 15,033,847 | -316,337 | -2.1 |
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