National newspaper ABCs: Sun boosts sales by 2.1%
The end of the summer Britain never had saw national newspaper circulations remain fairly static compared with August, while yearly figures continued their usual decline.
Daily market
The Sun led the daily market in September with a 2.1% boost in sales, equating to a little under 38,000, while a 1.4% period increase netted the Times an extra 5,500.
The greatest decline of the dailies belonged to the Financial Times, down -3.3% (-7,100) to an average circulation of 207,200, followed by the Daily Record in the popular market which was down -2.1%.
The popular market is also home to some of the more severe declines in yearly circulation, with the Record down -10.8%, the Star down -11.7% and the Mirror down -10.5%.
Sales of the Sun have fallen by 200,500 compared with September 2014, however the paper still boasts the largest circulation, just shy of 1.9 million.
London Free Press
Small increases in circulation for all the free titles meant that the free market was up 1.6% overall compared with the previous month, with City A.M. leading the way at 4.6% – the highest increase across all markets.
However, in line with the trend, the financial freebie was down -9% year on year, equating to a circulation drop of 10,300.
A 1.7% period increase netted the Evening Standard an extra 14,900 copies, while Metro was up 1.1% to add a little under 8,600.
Sunday market
While the Guardian’s daily edition was down over the month, the weekend’s Observer was up 3.7% (7,000 copies) – the highest increase of all the Sunday titles.
This was followed by the Independent on Sunday, up 2.1%, and the Sunday Times, up 1.1% – a good month (and year) for the quality market in comparison to the others.
Similar to their daily counterparts, the popular titles suffered some of the heavier declines, with the Daily Star Sunday down -4.2%, the Sun on Sunday down -2.8% and the Sunday Mail down -1.8%.
Sunday People saw the greatest yearly decline in circulation, down -17.2%.
| Daily Titles | Jul-14 | Jun-15 | Jul-15 | YoY Actual Change | YoY % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Daily | 7,501,714 | 6,938,862 | 6,963,504 | -538,210 | -7.2 | 24,642 | 0.4 |
| Quality | |||||||
| Daily Telegraph | 513,846 | 489,739 | 489,459 | -24,387 | -4.7 | -280 | -0.1 |
| Financial Times | 213,359 | 214,256 | 207,179 | -6,180 | -2.9 | -7,077 | -3.3 |
| Guardian | 181,181 | 171,218 | 168,369 | -12,812 | -7.1 | -2,849 | -1.7 |
| i | 285,930 | 274,556 | 276,137 | -9,793 | -3.4 | 1,581 | 0.6 |
| Independent | 63,083 | 57,930 | 57,883 | -5,200 | -8.2 | -47 | -0.1 |
| Times | 398,603 | 389,409 | 394,910 | -3,693 | -0.9 | 5,501 | 1.4 |
| Mid Market | |||||||
| Daily Express | 480,668 | 432,565 | 429,810 | -50,858 | -10.6 | -2,755 | -0.6 |
| Daily Mail | 1,674,927 | 1,626,846 | 1,627,706 | -47,221 | -2.8 | 860 | 0.1 |
| Popular | |||||||
| Daily Mirror | 956,875 | 855,987 | 856,499 | -100,376 | -10.5 | 512 | 0.1 |
| Daily Record | 209,730 | 191,042 | 187,037 | -22,693 | -10.8 | -4,005 | -2.1 |
| Daily Star | 466,210 | 416,379 | 411,725 | -54,485 | -11.7 | -4,654 | -1.1 |
| Sun | 2,057,302 | 1,818,935 | 1,856,790 | -200,512 | -9.7 | 37,855 | 2.1 |
| London Free Press | Sep-14 | Aug-15 | Sep-15 | YoY Actual Change | YoY % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total London Press | 1,760,473 | 1,711,102 | 1,739,087 | -21,386 | -1.2 | 27,985 | 1.6 |
| City A.M | 113,862 | 99,039 | 103,558 | -10,304 | -9.0 | 4,519 | 4.6 |
| London Evening Standard | 882,148 | 855,953 | 870,835 | -11,313 | -1.3 | 14,882 | 1.7 |
| Metro (London) | 764,463 | 756,110 | 764,694 | 231 | 0.0 | 8,584 | 1.1 |
| Sunday Titles | Sep-14 | Aug-15 | Sep-15 | YoY Actual Change | YoY % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Sunday | 7,152,302 | 6,574,679 | 6,495,506 | -656,796 | -9.2 | -79,173 | -1.2 |
| Quality | |||||||
| Independent On Sunday | 102,271 | 98,132 | 100,158 | -2,113 | -2.1 | 2,026 | 2.1 |
| Observer | 200,219 | 187,143 | 194,142 | -6,077 | -3.0 | 6,999 | 3.7 |
| Sunday Times | 812,262 | 765,204 | 773,486 | -38,776 | -4.8 | 8,282 | 1.1 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 395,581 | 370,702 | 366,241 | -29,340 | -7.4 | -4,461 | -1.2 |
| Mid Market | |||||||
| Mail On Sunday | 1,511,682 | 1,432,522 | 1,435,119 | -76,563 | -5.1 | 2,597 | 0.2 |
| Sunday Express | 414,497 | 378,552 | 367,049 | -47,448 | -11.4 | -11,503 | -3.0 |
| Sunday Post | 211,457 | 190,772 | 186,942 | -24,515 | -11.6 | -3,830 | -2.0 |
| Popular | |||||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 294,541 | 261,425 | 250,574 | -43,967 | -14.9 | -10,851 | -4.2 |
| Sunday People | 370,048 | 309,989 | 306,280 | -63,768 | -17.2 | -3,709 | -1.2 |
| Sun on Sunday | 1,662,163 | 1,544,535 | 1,500,739 | -161,424 | -9.7 | -43,796 | -2.8 |
| Sunday Mail | 235,316 | 210,079 | 204,372 | -30,944 | -13.1 | -5,707 | -2.7 |
| Sunday Mirror | 942,265 | 825,624 | 810,404 | -131,861 | -14.0 | -15,220 | -1.8 |
| Daily Titles | Apr 14 – Sep 14 | Mar 15 – Aug 15 | Apr 15 – Sep 15 | YoY Actual Change | YoY % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Daily | 7,533,662 | 6,990,544 | 6,954,123 | -579,539 | -7.7 | -36,421 | -0.5 |
| Quality | |||||||
| Daily Telegraph | 512,807 | 485,553 | 485,899 | -26,908 | -5.2 | 346 | 0.1 |
| Financial Times | 217,663 | 210,049 | 208,757 | -8,906 | -4.1 | -1,292 | -0.6 |
| Guardian | 183,766 | 172,423 | 170,877 | -12,889 | -7.0 | -1,546 | -0.9 |
| i | 286,809 | 275,950 | 276,664 | -10,145 | -3.5 | 714 | 0.3 |
| Independent | 63,035 | 58,496 | 58,350 | -4,685 | -7.4 | -146 | -0.2 |
| Times | 396,551 | 392,883 | 393,205 | -3,346 | -0.8 | 322 | 0.1 |
| Mid Market | |||||||
| Daily Express | 478,888 | 434,940 | 429,639 | -49,248 | -10.3 | -5,301 | -1.2 |
| Daily Mail | 1,690,669 | 1,632,153 | 1,628,865 | -61,804 | -3.7 | -3,288 | -0.2 |
| Popular | |||||||
| Daily Mirror | 958,352 | 872,515 | 864,265 | -94,087 | -9.8 | -8,250 | -0.9 |
| Daily Record | May-85 | Jun-29 | Feb-22 | -23,121 | -10.8 | -2,691 | -1.4 |
| Daily Star | 469,150 | 418,002 | 413,912 | -55,238 | -11.8 | -4,090 | -1.0 |
| Sun | 2,062,153 | 1,844,191 | 1,832,992 | -229,161 | -11.1 | -11,199 | -0.6 |
| Sunday Titles | Apr 14 – Sep 14 | Mar 15 – Aug 15 | Apr 15 – Sep 15 | YoY Actual Change | YoY % Change | PoP Actual Change | PoP % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Sunday | 7,210,912 | 6,566,199 | 6,548,946 | -661,967 | -9.2 | -17,253 | -0.3 |
| Quality | |||||||
| Independent On Sunday | 101,956 | 98,122 | 98,839 | -3,117 | -3.1 | 717 | 0.7 |
| Observer | 204,186 | 192,762 | 192,779 | -11,407 | -5.6 | 18 | 0.0 |
| Sunday Times | 816,848 | 779,598 | 776,207 | -40,641 | -5.0 | -3,391 | -0.4 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 403,395 | 374,117 | 372,508 | -30,887 | -7.7 | -1,608 | -0.4 |
| Mid Market | |||||||
| Sunday Express | 422,144 | 381,112 | 377,528 | -44,616 | -10.6 | -3,584 | -0.9 |
| Mail On Sunday | 1,530,891 | 1,446,347 | 1,444,492 | -86,399 | -5.6 | -1,856 | -0.1 |
| Sunday Post | 211,864 | 186,315 | 187,148 | -24,716 | -11.7 | 833 | 0.4 |
| Popular | |||||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 295,297 | 257,590 | 256,521 | -38,775 | -13.1 | -1,069 | -0.4 |
| Sunday People | 374,089 | 318,379 | 313,683 | -60,406 | -16.1 | -4,695 | -1.5 |
| Sun on Sunday | 1,676,561 | 1,494,592 | 1,499,748 | -176,813 | -10.5 | 5,156 | 0.3 |
| Sunday Mail | 238,107 | 211,587 | 208,768 | -29,339 | -12.3 | -2,818 | -1.3 |
| Sunday Mirror | 935,575 | 825,679 | 820,724 | -114,852 | -12.3 | -4,955 | -0.6 |