NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: January 2007
Daily Newspaper Market
The nation’s Daily newspapers suffered a 2.3% overall year on year downturn in readership for the six months to January 2007, according to the latest figures from the NRS.
The Quality titles, with the exception of the Times, recorded an increase in readership year on year, with the Daily Telegraph seeing the largest actual rise. The title now boasts 216,000 more readers year on year for the period to leave its total readership at more than 2.2 million.
Both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail shed readers year on year, whilst the Popular Daily sector suffered a similar fate. All titles in the Popular Daily sector, apart from the Daily Star, saw a decline in readership.
The Daily Star, however, bolstered its readership year on year for the period by 8.4%, or by around 130,000 readers.
Quality Daily Titles
Most Quality titles surveyed, with the exception of the Times, recorded a year on year increase in readership for the six-month period to January 2007.
The Times shed around 130,000 readers, or almost 7.5% of its total, to leave it with a final figure of more than 1.6 million. The Daily Telegraph, meanwhile, added 216,000 new readers to give the paper a total readership of over 2.2 million.
The Guardian also recorded an impressive upturn in its readership, by around the same figure as the Telegraph. The Berliner format now attracts a readership of a little shy of 1.4 million.
The Independent also boosted its total readership, up by around 50,000 year on year for the period, to leave its final figure at around 770,000.
Mid Market Daily Titles
Both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail lost readers year on year, with the Daily Mail suffering the largest actual decline.
The Daily Mail remains the market leader by far, with a total readership of more than 5.3 million, despite a loss of more than 300,000 readers year on year for the period.
The Daily Express shed 152,000, and now boasts a readership of more than 1.7 million.
Popular Daily Titles
With the exception of the Daily Star, all titles in the Popular sector experienced a dip in readership year on year.
The Star now commands a readership of 1.7 million, after an 8.4% increase in its readership year on year for the six-month period.
Market leader the Sun experienced the most significant decline, shedding around 570,000 from its total, which now rests at more than 7.8 million.
The Daily Mirror saw a 2.4% downturn, around 100,000 in real terms, whilst the Daily Record slid by around 1% (14,000). The titles now command readerships of just shy of four million and a little over 1.2 million respectively.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Aug 06-Jan 07 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Aug 05-Jan 06 | Aug 06-Jan 07 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,029,000 | 2,245,000 | 216,000 | 10.6 |
| Guardian | 1,165,000 | 1,380,000 | 215,000 | 18.5 |
| Independent | 718,000 | 769,000 | 51,000 | 7.1 |
| Times | 1,801,000 | 1,668,000 | -133,000 | -7.4 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,892,000 | 1,740,000 | -152,000 | -8.0 |
| Daily Mail | 5,639,000 | 5,336,000 | -303,000 | -5.4 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 4,077,000 | 3,978,000 | -99,000 | -2.4 |
| Daily Record | 1,232,000 | 1,218,000 | -14,000 | -1.1 |
| Daily Star | 1,568,000 | 1,700,000 | 132,000 | 8.4 |
| Sun | 8,437,000 | 7,864,000 | -573,000 | -6.8 |
| Total Daily | 28,558,000 | 27,898,000 | -660,000 | -2.3 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday newspaper market showed a year on year decline in readership of 1.3% for the six months to January, an actual fall of 420,000.
The Quality titles managed to perform well, however, with the Observer enjoying the largest year on year increase of any of the Sunday titles in real terms.
The Daily Star Sunday was the only title in either the Mid-Market or Popular sector to record an increase in readership year on year, matching the Observer‘s percentage increase at more than 15%.
Quality Sunday Titles
None of the Sunday Quality titles were down year on year for the period, although the Sunday Telegraph remained relatively static year on year, adding 8,000 readers.
The Observer was up by over 200,000 readers year on year, the highest increase of any Sunday title, giving it a total readership figure of more than 1.4 million.
Another big increase in real terms was experienced by the Sunday Times, with a rise in readership of around 185,000 year on year, or almost 5.5%.
The Independent On Sunday was up by over 6.5% year on year for the six months to January, a real term increase of almost 55,000. Its readership now stands at 850,000.
Mid Market Sunday Titles
In the Mid-Market, both the Mail On Sunday and the Sunday Express suffered year on year readership declines.
The Mail On Sunday was down by just over 3% year on year for the period, leaving its readership just shy of six million, whilst the Sunday Express was down by more than 5.5% year on year, leaving it with a total readership of a little over two million.
Popular Sunday Titles
The only title in the Popular sector to record an increase in readership was the Daily Star Sunday, which was up by more than 15% year on year, an increase in actual terms of over 150,000. Its readership now sits at just over 1.1 million.
The People and the Sunday Mirror suffered the largest real term declines in the Sunday Market, both at around 265,000, although the People lost a higher percentage of its readers, at almost 13%.
The titles now boast readerships of almost 1.8 million and almost 4.2 million respectively.
The News Of The World was also down year on year for the period, falling by more than 170,000 year on year. However, It remained the Sunday title with the highest total readership at almost 8.5 million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Aug 06-Jan 07 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Aug 05-Jan 06 | Aug 06-Jan 07 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday | 797,000 | 850,000 | 53,000 | 6.6 |
| Observer | 1,279,000 | 1,484,000 | 205,000 | 16.0 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,898,000 | 1,906,000 | 8,000 | 0.4 |
| Sunday Times | 3,500,000 | 3,684,000 | 184,000 | 5.3 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday | 6,180,000 | 5,980,000 | -200,000 | -3.2 |
| Sunday Express | 2,205,000 | 2,080,000 | -125,000 | -5.7 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 959,000 | 1,112,000 | 153,000 | 16.0 |
| News Of The World | 8,658,000 | 8,486,000 | -172,000 | -2.0 |
| People | 2,033,000 | 1,770,000 | -263,000 | -12.9 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,449,000 | 4,186,000 | -263,000 | -5.9 |
| Total Sunday | 31,958,000 | 31,538,000 | -420,000 | -1.3 |
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