NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: Jan – Dec 2011

The quality market titles, both the dailies and Sundays, were the biggest losers in readership terms in 2011. The FT saw its readership fall by -12.9% YoY in 2011, while the Times lost 180,000 readers during the one-year period (-11.5%). The Sunday Times also saw its readership drop -10.1% (-297,000 readers). Both the Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph recorded YoY decreases.

The Independent posted a small -0.4% dip YoY in 2011, though the Independent on Sunday recorded a -10.9% YoY decline. i‘s readership stands at 463,000, up 9.2% PoP (the title published a readership figure for the first time in the last NRS release). The Guardian managed to buck the trend, however, with a positive 1.5% increase in readers, while The Observer enjoyed a 10.3% YoY rise.

Despite its online success, the print version of the Daily Mail lost 286,000 readers (down -6.0%), while the Mail on Sunday dipped -1.1%. The Daily Express, meanwhile, remained fairly steady throughout the year.

Three of the four popular dailies recorded YoY declines. The Sun posted the biggest actual loss, down -242,000 readers, while the Daily Star saw the highest percentage drop (-7.6%). The Daily Mirror had more success though, up 3.7% (113,000 readers) in 2011.

The Sunday red-tops also did well with all three titles (minus the News of the World, which closed in July) enjoying YoY increases. The Sunday Mirror added 261,000 readers, while the People and the Daily Star Sunday added 89,000 readers each.

Daily Titles

Sunday Titles