NRS national newspaper round-up: January – December 2013

The latest NRS national newspaper figures once again paint a sorry picture for print, with no titles recording any growth in readership at all for the period January to December 2013.

In the quality market the Independent recorded the biggest loss, down -29% to secure an average daily readership of 348,000. Meanwhile, the paper’s more popular sister title, ‘i’, recorded an -8.7% dip, losing 53,000 readers to secure 559,000.

The Financial Times also took a painful hit, down -26.3% for the period, dropping 84,000 readers to settle with 235,000.

The Guardian was down -19.7%, dropping under the one million mark. The title lost 207,000 readers over the period to record a daily readership of 843,000.

The Times fared slightly better with a -12.5% drop. The title is still just above the million mark, but lost 164,000 readers over the period.

The Daily Telegraph was the strongest performer, down only -2.1%, dropping 28,000 readers to secure a daily average of more than 1.3 million.

In the mid-market, the Daily Mail still looks strong with an average daily readership of more than 4.2 million. The paper was down only -1%, beating the Daily Express – which was down -8.1%, to settle with just under 1.2 million readers.

In the popular market, both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Star were down -18%. The Mirror lost 539,000 readers to secure almost 2.5 million while the Star dropped 245,000 to see over 1.1 million people flick through each copy.

The Sun, still the nation’s most popular daily newspaper with over 7 million daily readers, was down -16.6%, dropping almost 1.2 million over the reported period.

All Sunday titles were down between January and December 2013, with the biggest readership losses occurring in the popular market.

In the quality market, the Observer’s -20.3% decline lost the paper 212,000 readers, taking its overall figure below the million mark.

The second-hardest hit title was the Independent on Sunday, down -19.3% to an average of 442,000, compared with the 550,000 it recorded the previous period.

Despite being down -3.9%, The Sunday Times continued to lead the ranks with a total print readership of 2.42 million, followed by the Sunday Telegraph, down -3.2% to 1.33 million.

In the mid market, a -14.4% decline saw the Sunday Express lose 176,000, while the Mail on Sunday’s -6.9% hit lost the paper almost 330,000.

The popular market was hardest hit between January and December 2013, with all red top titles recording significant decreases in readership.

The Sunday People’s -35% decline saw the paper lose 404,000 readers, however a -21.2% decline for the Sunday Mirror resulted in a loss close to 700,000.

Despite Sun on Sunday dropping by over 650,000 over the period, it continues to lead the ranks of all the Sunday titles with an average readership close to six million.

Daily Star Sunday was down -20.4% to just over a million readers.