NRS Advance Figures July-December’91
National Newspapers
The NRS six-monthly readership figures for July to December 1991 show The Daily Telegraph and The Financial Times to have faired best amongst the daily newspapers. The Telegraph increased its readership by 12.1% year-on-year and The Financial Times increased by 17.9%.
The only other daily newspapers to record increases in readership during this period were The Daily Mail (+3.2%) and The Times (+2.1%).
The Sun’s readership has returned to above the 10 million mark, after recording a figure of 9675,000 for the first half of 1991. However, the title still experienced a slight decrease against July to December 1990 (-0.7%).
The London Evening Standard recorded a readership of 1249,000, an increase of 25.7% on the second half of 1990.
Among the national Sunday newspapers, the highest increase was recorded by The Sunday Express, up by 13.8% to 4596,000. The other mid-market title, The Mail on Sunday, also increased its readership, up 6.3% to 5949,000.
The Sunday Times (+6.1%) and The Independent on Sunday (+6.7%) also recorded notable increases. The Sunday Sport, which in previous periods has consistently lost readership, recorded a year-on-year increase of 2.9% to give a figure of 1466,000.
Colour Supplements
The Sunday Express Magazine experienced the highest increase of the Sunday supplements, up by 15.2% to 4480,000. The increase in readership, for both The Sunday Express and its supplement, could be attributed to the title’s revamp last June.
Other increases among the supplements were recorded by You (+6.4%) and The Sunday Times Magazine (+5.5%). General Weeklies For the first time since deregulation took place, six-monthly readership figures for the TV listings magazines have been released.
The Radio Times now heads the general weeklies table with a readership of 6282,000 for July to December 1991, down by 28% year-on-year. The TV Times is close behind with a readership of 6248,000, down by 27.8%. TV Quick and What’s on TV, which obviously have no figures for comparison, achieved readerships of 2713,000 and 2036,000 respectively.
Notable increases among the general weeklies were recorded by Country Life (up 34.2% to 636,000), Garden News (up 31.5% to 443,000) and Punch (up 43.9% to 328,000).
The European experienced the largest loss in this group with readership down by 30.3% to 391,000.
Women’s Weeklies
Woman’s Own and Bella remain at the top of this group with readerships of 3767,000 and 3584,000 respectively.
Take a Break, which has figures for comparison for the first time, increased its readership by 81.7% to record a figure of 2728,000. The three teenage titles Just Seventeen, Jackie and My Guy, while remaining bottom of the table, all recorded increases for this period.
Notable falls were recorded by Chat (down 10.2% to 1591,000) and Me (down 15.4% to 1483,000).
Women’s Monthlies
Prima continues to lead the women’s monthly group with a readership of 2234,000; this figure is down by 2.9% on July to December 1990.
Several titles in this group experienced substantial readership increases. BBC Good Food, which has figures for comparison for the first time, rose 45.7% to 1199,000. The Clothes Show Magazine, which also has figures for comparison for the first time, almost doubled its readership, up by 96.4% to 974,000.
Further down the table Health & Fitness magazine rose 77.6% to 412,000, Tatler rose 56.1% to 299,000 and Traditional Homes rose 56.1% to 178,000.
Notable losses in this group were recorded by two of Argos Romances titles, True Story (-16.9%) and True Romances (-28.9%). General Monthlies Among the general monthly group notable increases were recorded by BBC Wildlife (up 39% to 1219,000) and Practical Gardening (up 34% to 1154,000).
The men’s style magazine Sky also faired well (up 19.8% to 1188,000), as did the music title Q (up 26% to 659,000).
Further down the table, Today’s Golfer increased its readership by 50% to 420,000 and Garden Answers increased by 63.3% to 369,000.
General monthlies
experiencing substantial readership falls include Film Review (down 23.1% to 462,000), Practical Householder (down 24.3% to 303,000) and Bike (down 18.9% to 274,000).