Newspaper ABCs, March 2017

Daily Market

March was a reasonably static month for newspaper circulations with most dips and gains very slight compared to February. The yearly picture was much worse for many titles, however.

In the quality market both the Daily Telegraph and the Financial Times were both up (0.7% and 3.1%, respectively) while the Guardian, Times and i recorded very minor dips.

Over the last year, however, all titles except The Times recorded circulation declines of between 2% and 7%. The Times, continuing to grow, was up 4.8%, however, adding more than 20,100 to its year-on-year sales figures.

The only other titles to record any circulation growth in March were Metro (full UK footprint) and the Sun – with the latter adding an extra 10,300 to its circulation between February and March, while the Metro, up just 0.2%, only 3,100.

Overall, the entire daily market was down only -0.1% in march, but over the last twelve months it has dropped by -4.4%.

Sunday Market

The majority of Sunday titles recorded declines in circulation in March, which resulted in the entire market being down -0.7% on the previous month.

Daily Star Sunday reported the biggest period-on-period decline (-3.6%) followed by the Sunday Mail (-3%) and the Observer (-2.4%).

However, the Observer’s circulation decline over the year was one of the less severe at -2.7%, compared to some big hits across the board – the largest belonging to the Daily Star Sunday (again) at -16.4%.

Meanwhile, Mail On Sunday’s circulation was up 0.2% compared with February, while The Sunday Times was up 0.1% – the only two titles to see an increase, although small, in sales.

London Free Press

The free market was up by almost 1% in March – an extra 17,400 copies on the previous month – while yearly circulation was up a healthy 7.9%.

Both Metro’s and the Evening Standard’s circulations increased by 0.5% period-on-period, while City A.M. was up by 0.4%.

The financial freesheet was down by -5.5% over the year, however, while Metro London reported a strong 17.7% increase.

Meanwhile, the Evening Standard was up by 1.1% year-on-year.

Between them, London’s freebies have a circulation of 1.89 million.