National Newspaper ABC Summary – April 1999
The latest round of national newspaper circulation figures, released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) today, shows that most papers are continuing to drop sales year on year.
The Independent, which has been struggling for some time with falling sales, appears to be stopping the rot. In the six months to April 1999, the Indy held steady at 221,441 copies, compared to the six months to March 1999. Year on year, for the same period, however, the paper still records a slight loss.
The two Mail titles continue to forge ahead, whilst the Express papers drop more and more copy sales. However, between October 1998 and April 1999, the Mail On Sunday dropped by 32,413 to a circulation of 2,293,214. Meanwhile, the Express is launching a new advertising campaign, through the St Luke’s agency, which departs from the universally-lambasted ‘dashing Rosie Boycott-alike’ affair.
The Financial Times continues to do well year on year, but has fallen back a little month on month.
| National Newspaper Nov ’98 – Apr ’99 ABC YoY Comparisons | ||||
| Title | Nov97-Apr98 | Nov98-Apr99 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Mail | 2,268,533 | 2,337,053 | 68,520 | 3.0 |
| Daily Record | 674,753 | 677,984 | 3,231 | 0.5 |
| Daily Star | 584,697 | 528,691 | -56,006 | -9.6 |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,080,159 | 1,042,950 | -37,209 | -3.4 |
| Express | 1,174,486 | 1,091,339 | -83,147 | -7.1 |
| Financial Times | 347,011 | 379,351 | 32,340 | 9.3 |
| Guardian | 401,810 | 398,437 | -3,373 | -0.8 |
| Independent | 225,413 | 221,441 | -3,972 | -1.8 |
| Independent On Sunday | 264,106 | 252,853 | -11,253 | -4.3 |
| Mail On Sunday | 2,208,384 | 2,293,237 | 84,853 | 3.8 |
| Mirror | 2,293,269 | 2,295,015 | 1,746 | 0.1 |
| Mirror & Daily Record | 2,968,022 | 2,972,999 | 4,977 | 0.2 |
| News Of The World | 4,385,028 | 4,226,617 | -158,411 | -3.6 |
| Observer | 417,009 | 404,346 | -12,663 | -3.0 |
| Racing Post | 49,102 | 75,390 | 26,288 | 53.5 |
| Sun | 3,714,666 | 3,702,079 | -12,587 | -0.3 |
| Sunday Express | 1,093,914 | 998,561 | -95,353 | -8.7 |
| Sunday Mirror | 2,119,012 | 1,969,568 | -149,444 | -7.1 |
| Sunday People | 1,779,676 | 1,665,120 | -114,556 | -6.4 |
| Sunday Sport | 262,805 | 215,607 | -47,198 | -18.0 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 855,772 | 814,976 | -40,796 | -4.8 |
| Sunday Times | 1,353,398 | 1,367,185 | 13,787 | 1.0 |
| Times | 797,468 | 744,342 | -53,126 | -6.7 |
| Total | 31,318,493 | 30,675,141 | -643,352 | -2.9 |
A full ABC Round Up for April, by market and including monthly comparison figures will be available on Newsline on Monday next week.
Subscribers can access the Press database by selecting “Press” from the drop-down box at the top of this page.