NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: Jan – Dec 2008
Daily Newspaper Market
The NRS figures for January to December 2008 show that Britain’s national newspaper market was down 2.3% overall year on year.
There were big readership increases for the Financial Times and the Guardian in the Quality sector, however, while the Times was also up.
In the Popular sector, the Daily Record recorded a readership increase of almost 2.5% year on year.
Quality Daily Titles
The Financial Times now has almost 420,000 readers following a year on year increase of around 16%.
The Guardian‘s readership has risen to over 1.2 million after a year on year rise of around 10.5%, while the Times has seen its readership hit 1.8 million following a rise of almost 9%.
The Daily Telegraph and Independent both lost readers according to the latest data.
The Daily Telegraph shed around 8.5% of its readership, leaving its total at 1.9 million, while the Indpendent lost around 7.5% of its total, leaving it with 688,000 readers.
The Telegraph relaunched in full colour in September, after a deal was reached with News International to use its printing division (see Daily Telegraph Goes Full Colour).
Also in September, the Independent(see The Independent Raises Its Cover Price), Guardian and Telegraph all upped their cover prices (see Guardian And Telegraph To Raise Cover Prices), as did the Times (see The Times Ups Its Cover Price).
Mid-Market Daily Titles
In the Mid-Market, the Daily Express was down 6.4% year on year, to just under 1.6 million readers, while the Daily Mail‘s readership dipped 3.2% to five million.
The Mail increased its weekday price by 5p last April (see Price Increase For Daily Mail), in a move criticised by the Express.
Popular Daily Titles
The Daily Record was the only Popular daily title in our analysis to record a rise for the period, up 2.3% to over 1.1 million readers.
The Daily Star did not do particularly well, with a drop of 10.6% leaving it with 1.4 million readers.
The Daily Star cut its cover price by 15p to just 20p in November, making it the cheapest national daily newspaper (see Daily Star slashes cover price).
The move came after the Sun slashed its national cover price to 30p in August, following several regional pricing tactics (see The Sun Slashes Its Cover Price Across The UK).
The Daily Mirror, meanwhile, was down 5% year on year, to 3.6 million readers, while the Sun remained the most read national daily, with just under 7.9 million readers, although it was down 1.4% year on year.
London Free Papers
The latest NRS figures for the London afternoon freesheets show that thelondonpaper now has a total readership figure of just over one million, while the London Lite has over 1.1 million readers.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – January 08- December 08 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Jan 07-Dec 07 | Jan 08-Dec 08 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,075,000 | 1,901,000 | -174,000 | -8.4 |
| Financial Times | 360,000 | 418,000 | 58,000 | 16.1 |
| Guardian | 1,121,000 | 1,240,000 | 119,000 | 10.6 |
| Independent | 745,000 | 688,000 | -57,000 | -7.7 |
| Times | 1,666,000 | 1,813,000 | 147,000 | 8.8 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,678,000 | 1,571,000 | -107,000 | -6.4 |
| Daily Mail | 5,230,000 | 5,062,000 | -168,000 | -3.2 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 3,789,000 | 3,600,000 | -189,000 | -5.0 |
| Daily Record | 1,134,000 | 1,160,000 | 26,000 | 2.3 |
| Daily Star | 1,597,000 | 1,427,000 | -170,000 | -10.6 |
| Sun | 7,980,000 | 7,872,000 | -108,000 | -1.4 |
| Total Daily | 27,375,000 | 26,752,000 | -623,000 | -2.3 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday newspaper market was down by 4.2% overall in the twelve-month period to December 2008, a real term decline of over 1.26 million readers.
The Observer and the Sunday Times were the only two titles in the Sunday sector to increase their readership while the red-top market suffered significant declines.
Quality Sunday Titles
The Quality sector was the only one to see increased readerships in the overall Sunday market, though two out of the four titles suffered declines and followed the overall downward trend.
The Independent on Sunday was down by a significant 7.5% year on year, a real term loss of 58,000 copies, which was in fact similar to the Observer’s gain.
The Independent on Sunday‘s total readership now stands at 720,000 – well below the others in the Quality sector.
The Sunday Telegraph also witnessed a year on year downturn, falling by 4.6% – a real term loss of 83,000 readers – which takes its total readership down to 1.7 million.
However, the Sunday Times and the Observer both enjoyed year on year increases – the Observer gained a significant 56,000 readers, taking its total to nearly 1.4 million readers.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times was up by just 0.1% year on year but still remains the most read title in the Quality sector, with over 3.2 million readers.
Mid-Market Sunday Titles
The Mid-Market sector had a relatively bad period, with both titles suffering year on year declines.
The Sunday Express saw a fairly significant percentage loss, down 6.5% year on year – a real term loss of 122,000 – which leaves its total readership at 1.7 million.
Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday suffered a real term loss of 163,000 readers – down 2.8% year on year – but still managed to retain a readership of more than 5.6 million.
Popular Sunday Titles
The Popular sector also had a bad period, with all four titles witnessing significant losses.
In terms of percentage losses, the Daily Star Sunday was down by the most in the sector after a decline of 10.2% year on year to 850,000 readers – well below its competitors in the market.
The People witnessed a 5.2% year on year downturn, taking its readership to 1.5 million.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Mirror fell by a similar amount – 5.4% year on year – a real term loss of 227,000 readers, which takes its total under 4 million for the first time.
The News of the World suffered the largest real term loss in the Sunday market, losing nearly half a million readers.
However, despite its 5.9% year on year loss, the News of the World still remains the most read paper in its category as well as the overall Sunday market, well ahead of the other titles with almost 7.8 million readers.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – January 08- December 08 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Jan 07-Dec 07 | Jan 08-Dec 08 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 778,000 | 720,000 | -58,000 | -7.5 |
| Observer | 1,323,000 | 1,379,000 | 56,000 | 4.2 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,786,000 | 1,703,000 | -83,000 | -4.6 |
| Sunday Times | 3,217,000 | 3,221,000 | 4,000 | 0.1 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 5,775,000 | 5,612,000 | -163,000 | -2.8 |
| Sunday Express | 1,874,000 | 1,752,000 | -122,000 | -6.5 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday. | 947,000 | 850,000 | -97,000 | -10.2 |
| News Of The World | 8,281,000 | 7,795,000 | -486,000 | -5.9 |
| People | 1,620,000 | 1,536,000 | -84,000 | -5.2 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,195,000 | 3,968,000 | -227,000 | -5.4 |
| Total Sunday | 29,796,000 | 28,536,000 | -1,260,000 | -4.2 |
NRS: 020 7242 8111 www.nrs.co.uk