During September, The National Press Followed The Same Depressed pattern as in the preceeding months, with only one or two titles showing signs of a possible upturn in the market.
Quality Newspapers Once again, The Independent on Sunday and The Observer were the only quality newspapers with encouraging circulation figures. The IoS increased its sales by 10.9% on September 1990, while The Observer increased by a more modest 2.6%.
Circulations for all the other qualities fell year – on – year. Most notable was The Independent, down by9.1% on September last year.
This picture was mirrored by the six monthly circulations for April to September, with only the IoS and Observer recording year – on – year increases.
| SEPT ABCs | %CH/ | Apr- | %CH/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘000 | Sep’91 | Sep’90 | Sep’91 | A-S’90 |
| D.Tel | 1062 | -1.3 | 1059 | -1.5 |
| FT | 286 | -0.3 | 286 | -0.9 |
| Guard | 414 | -3.3 | 413 | -2 |
| Times | 388 | -8.5 | 390 | -8.3 |
| Indpnd | 380 | -9.1 | 377 | -8.2 |
| Obs | 560 | 2.6 | 555 | 1.7 |
| S.Tel | 571 | -4.8 | 569 | -3.3 |
| S.Times | 1177 | -0.3 | 1148 | -0.2 |
| IoS | 386 | 10.9 | 372 | 11.5 |
The NRS Early Estimates of Average Issue Readership for September show all the quality newspapers except The Independent gaining readership on August 1991.
Year – on – year comparisons, however, reveal a more mixed picture. The Observer, Sunday Telegraph and Independent all lost readership against September 1990. The Sunday Telegraph suffered most, falling by 16.8% to to 1,713,000.
Among the other qualities, which all experienced readership increases, the Financial Times rose by 7.9% to give a figure of 707,000 and The Guardian roseby 3.2% to 1277,000.
The MEAL average monthly pagination figures for September paint a more encouraging picture, with most titles increasing their proportion of display advertising year-on-year.
Both The Guardian and The Independent increased their proportion of mono display advertising by 2 percentage points. The IoS, while losing mono advertising, increased its proportion of colour display advertising by 3 percentage points. MEAL Average Monthly Pagination – Sept
| Mono Display(%) | Col Display(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ’90 | ’91 | ’90 | ’91 | |
| D.Telgrph | 19 | 18 | 3 | 4 |
| FT | 21 | 21 | 5 | 5 |
| Guardian | 12 | 14 | 1 | 2 |
| W/E Guard | 9 | 11 | 0 | 2 |
| Times | 15 | 15 | 3 | 3 |
| Times Rev | n/a | 2 | n/a | 28 |
| Indpndnt | 19 | 17 | 3 | 2 |
| Obsvr | 23 | 24 | 3 | 4 |
| S.Telgrph | 23 | 18 | 3 | 4 |
| S.Times | 17 | 20 | 4 | 4 |
| S.Tms Bks | 23 | 14 | 6 | 1 |
| IoS Main | 27 | 24 | 4 | 7 |
| IoS Bus | 11 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| IoS Rev | 4 | 5 | 17 | 18 |
Mid-Market Newspapers For the first time for several months all the mid-market newspapers experienced a fall in circulation. The Daily Mail, which had been increasing slightly, lost circulation by 2.3% on September 1990.
A more familiar pattern is shown by the six monthly figures, both the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday increase circulation slightly on April to September 1990.
| SEPT ABCs | %CH/ | Apr- | %CH/ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘000 | Sep’91 | Sep’90 | Sep’91 | A-S’90 |
| D.Exp | 1549 | -3.7 | 1563 | -1.8 |
| D.Mail | 1689 | -2.3 | 1702 | 0.8 |
| Today | 468 | -14.1 | 471 | -17.1 |
| E.Stnd | 467 | -9.5 | 478 | -4 |
| S.Exp | 1673 | -1.4 | 1656 | -2.8 |
| MoS | 1935 | -0.1 | 1907 | 0.3 |
The NRS Early Estimates show Today and The Daily Express experiencing a fall in readership against September 1991. The other mid-markets gained readership year-on-year, including The Sunday Express which rose by 4.6% to 4622,000. The MEAL pagination figures are not as encouraging for the mid-market titles as they are for the qualities.
Only The Sunday Express increased its proportion of display advertising, with mono display rising by 4 percentage points. The Sunday Express Part 2 has once again retained its relatively high level of mono advertising.
The Daily Express recorded exactly the same proportions of display advertising during September 1991 as it did in September 1990. For the other mid- market titles display advertising fell year-on-year. MEAL Average Monthly Pagination – Sept
| Mono Display(%) | Col Display(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ’90 | ’91 | ’90 | ’91 | |
| D.Express | 27 | 27 | 4 | 4 |
| D.Mail | 27 | 25 | 2 | 3 |
| Today | 16 | 17 | 6 | 4 |
| E.Stndrd | n/a | 19 | n/a | 2 |
| S.Express | 35 | 39 | 4 | 3 |
| S.Exp(2) | n/a | 34 | n/a | 2 |
| MoS | 37 | 35 | 3 | 3 |
Popular Newspapers The popular newspapers appear to have suffered most in the current climate with September proving no exception. The Sunday Sport and The People continue their downward spirals, losing circulation by 13.2% and 14.7% respectively year-on-year.
The Daily Star and the Daily Mirror also experienced substantial losses.
The Sunday Mirror was the only exception among the populars, with circulation increasing by 1% on September 1990.
SEPT ABCs
| %CH/ | Apr- | %CH/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘000 | Sep’91 | Sep’90 | Sep’91 | A-S’90 |
| D.Mirr | 2915 | -7 | 2911 | -7.4 |
| D.Star | 846 | -9.8 | 859 | -7.6 |
| Sun | 3762 | -5.5 | 3690 | -5.5 |
| NoW | 4980 | -5.5 | 4845 | -4.1 |
| S.Mirr | 2886 | 1 | 2810 | -4 |
| S.Sport | 369 | -13.2 | 371 | -14.2 |
| People | 2293 | -14.7 | 2279 | -11.5 |
All the popular newspapers have lost readership year-on-year, according to the NRS Early Estimates for September. The People and Daily Mirror experienced the largest losses with The People falling 13.2% to 6,303,000 and The Mirror falling 8.5% to 7,974,000. The pagination figures for the popular newspapers show a continuing decline for the People. Its proportion of both mono and colour display advertising fell year-on-year.
The Sun, News of the World and Sunday Mirror all increased their colour advertising, proportions rose by 1,2 and 3 percentage points respectively. Colour display for The Daily Mirror and Daily Star remained stable. MEAL Average Monthly Pagination – Sept
| Mono Display(%) | Col Display(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ’90 | ’91 | ’90 | ’91 | |
| D.Mirror | 24 | 21 | 6 | 6 |
| D.Star | 23 | 25 | 3 | 3 |
| Sun | 23 | 17 | 4 | 5 |
| NoW | 30 | 28 | 3 | 6 |
| S.Mirror | 32 | 27 | 5 | 7 |
| S.Sport | 20 | n/a | 4 | n/a |
| People | 24 | 21 | 4 | 2 |
General Press News More titles instigated cover price increases during September, following the trend set by The Sunday Times in the previous month. The News of the World rose by 5p to 50p, The Daily Mail and Daily Express both rose by 2p to 30p and The Observer increased from 70p to 80p.
Express Newspapers decentralised its sales operation, with the daily and Sunday titles now being sold separately. This is the latest in a number of moves by publishers to increase the efficiency of their sales teams. Earlier in the year News International restructured its sales departments.
At the beginning of September Today launched a £3m TV advertising campaign in an effort to reverse its downwardspiral. It remains to be seen whether or not this will have a positive effect on sales.
The Sport finally became a daily newspaper on October 7. The launch of the Monday and Saturday editions was originally planned for August but was delayed.
The NPA marketing campaign began last month with the “Best of Press Ads” appearing in member papers. The aim is to target advertisers who believe that TV is the most effective medium and to increase the expenditure of existing press advertisers. The campaign, which has provoked controversy, has come at a time when the variety of advertising opportunities across all media are increasing, while advertising expenditure is decreasing.
Newspaper publishers have recognised the need to rethink their approach to selling advertising. However, it is likley to be a while before either the NPA campaign or revamped sales operations have any effect on the current market trend.
