QUALITIES Among the quality newspapers The Independent on Sunday and The Observer continue to be the only titles to increase circulation year – on-year, when comparing both the monthly figures for October and the six monthly figures for May to October.
The Times and The Independent once again experienced the greatest circulation falls in this group. The Times fell by 6.7% in October’90 and The Independent fell by 8.4%.
The Financial Times, whilst losing circulation by 1.4% year-on-year, did record a figure of 192,000, its highest so far this year.
OCT ABC’s
| %CH/ | May- | %CH/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘000 | OCT’91 | OCT’90 | OCT’91 | M-O’90 |
| D.Tel | 1061 | -1 | 1059 | -1.5 |
| FT | 292 | -1.4 | 286 | -1 |
| Guard | 419 | -1.6 | 411 | -2.2 |
| Times | 393 | -6.7 | 390 | -8.3 |
| Indep | 380 | -8.4 | 376 | -8.5 |
| Obsv | 569 | 3.6 | 557 | 1.9 |
| S.Tel | 565 | -3.4 | 567 | -3.8 |
| S.Times | 1170 | -2.3 | 1144 | -0.8 |
| IOS | 390 | 9.9 | 374 | 11 |
In keeping with previous months the MEAL average monthly pagination figures for October give a more positive outlook for the quality newspapers. Most titles increased their proportion of display advertising against October’90.
The Guardian’s proportion of mono display advertising increased by 3 percentage points as did The Observer’s. The Sunday Telegraph increased its mono advertising by 5 percentage points and The Independent on Sunday’s main section increased its mono advertising by 4 percentage points.
The Daily Telegraph was the only quality title to experience a reduction in its proportion of both mono and colour advertising. The highest increase in colour advertising was recorded by The Sunday Times, up by 2 percentage points to 6%.
MEAL Average Monthly Pagination – OCT
| Mono Display(%) | Col Display(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ’90 | ’91 | ’90 | ’91 | |
| D.Tel | 22 | 21 | 4 | 3 |
| FT | 22 | 21 | 5 | 6 |
| Guardian | 14 | 17 | 2 | 2 |
| W/e Guard | 9 | 9 | 1 | 2 |
| Times | 19 | 17 | 3 | 3 |
| Times Rev | 4 | 4 | 30 | 24 |
| Indep | 20 | 21 | 3 | 4 |
| Obsv | 24 | 27 | 4 | 3 |
| S.Teleg | 23 | 28 | 4 | 3 |
| Mono Display(%) | Col Display(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ’90 | ’91 | ’90 | ’91 | |
| S.Times | 23 | 25 | 4 | 6 |
| S.Tms Bks | 15 | 17 | 11 | 2 |
| IOS Main | 27 | 31 | 6 | 5 |
| IOS Bus | 17 | 21 | 1 | 3 |
| IOS Rev | 4 | 6 | 20 | 21 |
MID MARKETS The Sunday newspapers faired best among the mid – market titles, with The Mail on Sunday increasing its circulation by 5.7% on October’90, and The Sunday Express increasing its circulation by 1.3%. Despite increasing it’s circulation by 12,000 on September ’90, Today recorded a year-on-year loss of 9.8%. The six-monthly circulation figures for the mid-market titles show slightly different results to the monthly figures. The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday recorded increases in circulation while all the other titles recorded decreases.
OCT ABC’s
| %CH/ | May- | %CH/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘000 | OCT’91 | OCT’90 | OCT’91 | M-O’9 |
| D.Exp | 1513 | -4.4 | 1555 | -2.7 |
| D.Mail | 1686 | -1.6 | 1696 | 0.1 |
| Today | 480 | -9.8 | 471 | -15.9 |
| Eve.Stnd | 517 | 0.8 | 481 | -3.6 |
| S.Exp | 1664 | 1.3 | 1661 | -2.3 |
| MOS | 2035 | 5.7 | 1924 | 0.8 |
The MEAL pagination figures show no year-on-year change in the proportion of colour display advertising for any of the mid – market dailies. Today recorded the highest levels of colour advertising with a proportion of 5%.
The Daily Express, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday all experienced a fall in their proportion of mono advertising against October ’90. The greatest drop was recorded by The Daily Mail, falling by 3 percentage points. The Sunday Express, on the other hand, increased its mono advertising by 8 percentage points to 43%.
The Sunday Express Part 2 once again recorded relatively high levels of advertising with a proportion of 33% for mono advertising and 4% for colour advertising.
| Mono Display(%) | Col Display(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ’90 | ’91 | ’90 | ’91 | |
| D.Exp | 30 | 28 | 4 | 4 |
| D.Mail | 29 | 26 | 3 | 3 |
| Today | 19 | 20 | 5 | 5 |
| Eve.Stnd | – | 23 | – | 2 |
| S.Exp | 35 | 43 | 5 | 3 |
| S.Exp(2) | – | 33 | – | 4 |
| MOS | 37 | 36 | 3 | 5 |
POPULARS All the popular newspapers have consistently lost circulation over the past few months. The Sun fell by 5.7% on October ’90 and The Daily Mirror fell 6.0%. The News of The World experienced a fall of 5.6% and The Sunday Mirror a fall of 4.2%.
Once again The People stands out as the title experiencing the greatest loss with a drop in circulation of 15.3% on October ’90. The six monthly figures for May to October, for the popular newspapers, present on almost identical pattern to the monthly figures with all titles losing circulation.
OCT ABC’s
| %CH/ | May- | %CH/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘000 | OCT’91 | OCT’90 | OCT’91 | M-O’9 |
| D.Mirr | 2899 | -6 | 2906 | -7.3 |
| D.Star | 853 | -7.8 | 857 | -7.8 |
| Sun | 3705 | -5.7 | 3692 | -5.4 |
| NOW | 4907 | -5.6 | 4852 | -4.3 |
| S.Mirr | 2873 | -4.2 | 2809 | -4.3 |
| S.Sprt | 380 | -3.3 | 372 | -11.9 |
| People | 2218 | -15.3 | 2267 | -12.2 |
The pagination figures for October present a more encouraging picture for the popular titles. The Sun, News of the World and Sunday Mirror all increased their proportion of colour display advertising on October’90.
Notably The News of the World, which carried no colour advertising last October, recorded a proportion of 8%.
The level of colour advertising for the Daily Mirror, Daily Star and People remained stable. The Sun and News of the World lost mono display advertising by 4 and 5 percentage points respectively; their increases in colour advertising, however, more than compensated for this.
The Daily Mirror dropped it’s proportion of mono display advertising by 3 percentage points, as did The People.
| Mono Display(%) | Col Display(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ’90 | ’91 | ’90 | ’91 | |
| D.Mirr | 27 | 24 | 6 | 6 |
| D.Star | 23 | 26 | 3 | 3 |
| Sun | 24 | 20 | 3 | 6 |
| NOW | 34 | 29 | – | 8 |
| S.MIRR | 31 | 32 | 5 | 6 |
| S.Sport | 19 | – | 11 | – |
| People | 26 | 23 | 3 | 3 |
