NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: December 2006
Daily Newspaper Market
The latest NRS figures show that Britain’s national newspapers suffered a year on year decline in readership in the six-month period to December 2006, with Daily titles falling by 4.2% overall.
In the Daily market, the Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Daily Record were the only papers to record increases in readership for the period, with all other titles in the market recording declines.
The largest real term declines in the Daily market were felt by the Daily Mail and the Sun, at 306,000 and 710,000 respectively.
The Daily Express and the Daily Star also suffered falling readership figures, with the Express recording the largest percentage loss in the Daily market.
Quality Daily Titles
In the Quality sector, the Daily Telegraph performed admirably, adding almost 230,000 readers year on year, a percentage rise of 10%, cementing its position as the number one daily.
The Guardian also added readers, with a year on year increase of over 115,000 in real terms, or almost 10% percentage wise.
The Times was the hardest hit, with a decline of 5.7% year on year for the six-months to December.
The title was down more than 100,000 readers year on year for the period, leaving it with a total of under 1.7 million. The other Quality title to shed readers was the Independent, which was down by around 1% year on year.
Mid Market Daily Titles
The readerships of both the Daily Express and Daily Mail fell year on year, with the Daily Mail feeling the biggest loss.
The Mail shed over 300,000 readers for the period, leaving it with a readership total of more than 5.4 million, whilst the Express was down over 235,000 (almost 12.5%), leaving its readership at almost 1.7 million.
Popular Daily Titles
The only title to enjoy an increase in readership in the Popular sector was the Daily Record, whilst market leading title the Sun felt the greatest loss.
The Daily Record was up by almost 3.5% year on year, an increase in real terms of over 40,000 readers.
The Sun suffered a very large loss, down 710,000 readers year on year, an 8.5% fall. However, it remained far and away the most read Daily title, with a total readership figure of over 7.6 million.
The Daily Mirror and the Daily Star were also down year on year, at around 110,000 and 120,000 respectively. The Daily Mirror‘s readership now rests at 3.9 million, whilst the Star‘s is at around 1.6 million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Jul-Dec 2006 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Jul 05-Dec 05 | Jul 06-Dec 06 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,064,000 | 2,292,000 | 228,000 | 11.0 |
| Guardian | 1,207,000 | 1,324,000 | 117,000 | 9.7 |
| Independent | 763,000 | 756,000 | -7,000 | -0.9 |
| Times | 1,801,000 | 1,699,000 | -102,000 | -5.7 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,916,000 | 1,679,000 | -237,000 | -12.4 |
| Daily Mail | 5,649,000 | 5,343,000 | -306,000 | -5.4 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 4,062,000 | 3,954,000 | -108,000 | -2.7 |
| Daily Record | 1,207,000 | 1,248,000 | 41,000 | 3.4 |
| Daily Star | 1,737,000 | 1,616,000 | -121,000 | -7.0 |
| Sun | 8,336,000 | 7,626,000 | -710,000 | -8.5 |
| Total Daily | 28,742,000 | 27,537,000 | -1,205,000 | -4.2 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday market was also down year on year for December, with a readership decline of 2.7%.
However, the Quality titles all put in reasonably strong performances, with the Observer demonstrating the largest year on year increase of any Sunday title, both percentage wise and in real terms.
The only title to increase its readership year on year in either the Mid-Market or Popular Sectors was the Daily Star Sunday, which saw an increase of around 9%.
Quality Sunday Titles
All of the Sunday Quality titles recorded year on year increases for the six months to December, although the Sunday Telegraph‘s was marginal, at around 5,000 readers.
The biggest increase in the sector was felt by the Observer which was up by 175,000 year on year in real terms (around 13.5%), taking its total readership figure to almost 1.5 million.
The Sunday Times also enjoyed a healthy rise, of more than 160,000, giving it a total of well over 3.6 million.
Meanwhile, the Independent On Sunday was up by almost 10.5%, to give it a total readership of more than 80,000, whilst the Sunday Telegraph remained relatively static, increasing by 0.3%.
Mid Market Sunday Titles
Both of the Mid-Market titles were down year on year in the Sunday sector, with similar real term declines for the Mail On Sunday and Sunday Express.
The Mail On Sunday saw a 3.1% decline year on year in December, an actual fall of around 190,000, although it remained the most read paper in the sector, whilst the Sunday Express fell by almost 8.5% year on year, giving it a total readership of just over 2 million.
Popular Sunday Titles
The Daily Star Sunday was the only Sunday title in the Popular sector to enjoy an increase, adding almost 90,000 readers year on year to take its readership to over 1 million.
The News Of The World suffered the largest year on year decline in the Sunday market, shedding 459,000 readers. It remained the most read of any Sunday paper though, with a total figure of almost 8.3 million.
The Sunday Mirror also felt a large loss, of almost 340,000 readers year on year, whilst the People was down by over 220,000 year on year. The Sunday Mirror‘s readership now rests at almost 4.2 million, whilst the People has a total figure of nearly 1.8 million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Jul-Dec 2006 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Jul 05-Dec 05 | Jul 06-Dec 06 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday | 799,000 | 882,000 | 83,000 | 10.4 |
| Observer | 1,303,000 | 1,478,000 | 175,000 | 13.4 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,953,000 | 1,958,000 | 5,000 | 0.3 |
| Sunday Times | 3,486,000 | 3,648,000 | 162,000 | 4.6 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday | 6,190,000 | 6,001,000 | -189,000 | -3.1 |
| Sunday Express | 2,237,000 | 2,049,000 | -188,000 | -8.4 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 968,000 | 1,057,000 | 89,000 | 9.2 |
| News Of The World | 8,733,000 | 8,274,000 | -459,000 | -5.3 |
| People | 1,985,000 | 1,763,000 | -222,000 | -11.2 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,525,000 | 4,186,000 | -339,000 | -7.5 |
| Total Sunday | 32,179,000 | 31,296,000 | -883,000 | -2.7 |
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