National Press Round-Up – May

Qualities

The only daily quality titles to improve year on year circulation in May were the Times, up 1.79%, or nearly 12,000 copies to 676,422, and the Financial Times, up by 0.55% or 1,600 copies to 302,266. These two titles also recorded the biggest increases of any national newspapers compared to last month; the FT was up 3.41%, and the Times up by 3.39%. This pattern is also reflected in the long-term trends shown by the 6-monthly circulation figures; amongst all qualities, only the Times, the Sunday Times and the FT have recorded improvements year on year in their December to May figures. The Guardian is still maintaining its steady circulation, down just 0.48% year on year, but up 0.36% on April. The Daily Telegraph followed the same pattern; it lost 2.4% year on year, but gained 1.36% on April’s circulation.

Mirror Group’s Independent titles have still not stabilised their circulations; the Independent lost 7.8% or over 23,000 copies year on year; whilst its Sunday sister title lost 12.22% or over 41,000 copies year on year to 298,927, the first time its circulation has fallen below the 300,000 mark. Month on month both titles also lost circulation. The Telegraph titles fared well month on month, but not so well on last year.

Mid-Markets

Associated’s Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday continue their seemingly ever-upward circulation climb in May; the Daily Mail was up by 17.16% on last year to 2,089,988, the fifth consecutive month its circulation has been over 2 million. The Mail on Sunday was up by 8.8% on last year to 2,127,522; its highest circulation since February.

The Express titles continue to fall in circulation; the Daily Express is down by 3.2% year on year giving it a new low in monthly circulations of 1,229,679; the Sunday Express is down by 10% year on year; it now has a lower figure than its daily sister, 1,228,949.

The continued fall of Express titles and rise of the Mail titles means that both of Associated’s titles now have a 63% share of the market.

Populars

There was better news for United News and Media’s popular title however; the Daily Star was up by 4.5% year on year, or over 33,000 copies to 766,387; this was an improvement of 3.3% on last month. The Star and the People were the only populars to improve their figures year on year.

The Sun lost 46,000 copies on last year, and 14,000 copies on last month. The Daily Mirror however fared worse; it lost 4.9% or 127,000 copies on last year down to 2,453,927. The picture among the Sundays was no better; apart from the People, up by just 1,000 copies on last year, all the Sundays lost circulation on last year. The biggest casualty was the Sunday Sport, down 14.29%; but the Mirror Group’s Sunday Mirror lost 9.55% or 254,000 copies on last year. The News of the World recorded a drop of 2.17% on last year. Compared to last month however, the popular press’ fortunes have looked up slightly, with most titles bettering circulations.