November ABCs: Another strong month for The Times

The Times is continuing its period of growth and is now the only title reporting both period and yearly circulation gains.

Between October and November, the title was up 1.2% period on period and 8.6% year on year, with total sales closing in on 443,000.

The Guardian – also in the quality market – was the only other daily title to boost circulation over the month (+0.8%), although the extra 1,300 copies made little difference to its 159,000 total.

The i, however, was down -3.5% compared with October, dropping almost 10,000 copies, while the Financial Times was down -1.2% to lose 2,400.

As per usual, titles in the popular market recorded the biggest monthly and yearly declines – led by the Daily Mirror, down -3% PoP and -11.2% YoY.

Overall the daily market was down -1.2% PoP and -3% YoY – fairing slightly better than the Sunday papers.

Sunday Market

Following suit with its daily counterpart, the Sunday Times also performed well compared with the wider market – again seeing sales increase both over the period (+2.1%) and the year (+2.6%).

The quality title now sells just under 798,000 copies.

The Observer also managed to increase sales over the period (+0.9%) and the year (0.5%) – although marginally. Still, better than a kick in the teeth.

Popular market title Sunday Mirror recorded the biggest declines – down -6.5% PoP and -16.5% YoY – meaning the title now sells 125,600 less copies than the same time last year.

Similarly, Sunday People was down -5.6% PoP and -14.2% YoY,

Alas – slight increases in yearly circulation in the quality market weren’t quite enough to offset huge declines elsewhere, meaning the entire market was down -6.6% over the year and -2% compared with the previous month.

London Free Press

The London Free Press recorded no change at all compared with the previous month and, thanks to Metro (London) – up 17.5% year on year – managed to boost overall market circulation by 6.8% over the year – an extra 120,900 copies.