Newspapers’ Print Circulations Decline As Web Traffic Blossoms

Online newspaper websites are rapidly increasing in popularity as their print counterparts continue to suffer falling circulation figures, according to audited data from ABC and ABCe.

It appears that no amount of free DVDs and wall charts can halt the declines, which has been felt across the sectors. Newspaper websites on the other hand, never seem to have had it so good. All the sites that are registered with ABCe have seen substantial growth in the number of users logging on, reading the latest news, looking for a job or updating their fantasy football team.

The market leader amongst the Quality titles, the Daily Telegraph, spent 2006 struggling to stay above the 900,000 ABC figure. Long gone are the days where circulation was over the million threshold and the paper appears to be rather reliant on bulk sales to keep its circulation from falling further.

The Telegraph.co.uk website on the other hand appears to be thriving as the brand attempts to engage with the digital age, and widen its image away from the elderly audience that the newspaper is often associated with.

The number of unique users reached over 6.3 million in November, an increase of around 700,000 from six months before.

The Times has seen its circulation slip slightly over the past year. Figures for January show it to be down around 15,000 from the same period in 2006.

Whilst circulation for the print edition is stagnating, usage for Times Online is blossoming. Nearly 10.9 million unique users visited the site in January, its highest ever recorded figure. This represents a growth of over three million from the previous year.

Circulation for the Guardian remained shy of the 400,000 mark throughout the past year. The paper has seen little real growth since downsizing to the Berliner format in 2005 (see Guardian Hits Newsstands In Berliner Format).

The Guardian Unlimited site continues to remain the UK’s most popular online newspaper destination. Usage for January reached 15.7 million, a record high. This is almost five million more users more than Times Online attracts.

The vast array of content that the Guardian provides online has meant that areas such as its employment vacancies channel have become increasingly popular. That channel now attracts over a million users a month, and this could possibly lead to more classified advertising being moved online at the expense of print.

The Sun experienced a slight drop in circulation over the past year, with figures for January hovering around the 3.2 million mark.

The paper, however, is making significant strides online and is certainly establishing a strong presence. The Sun Online site saw a continual increase in traffic throughout the year, as the number of users rose by almost four million.

Whilst the quality newspapers have largely sought to invest in online, the popular titles have often appeared rather reluctant to do so, perhaps fearing that print sales will be affected by increased content becoming available online.

The Sun however appears to be bucking the trend, as its site offers a wide variety of material, including its popular Dream Team football competition and Page 3.com.

Note: This report only includes newspapers whom have their website regularly audited by ABCe. Not all of the websites produce audited traffic data on a monthly basis.

Subscribers to mediatel.co.uk can access combined ABC/ABCe reports in the Online and Press databases.

ABC: 01442 870 800 www.abc.org.uk ABC Electronic: 01442 870 800 www.abce.org.uk