NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – March 2004
The Times saw readership decline by 17.6% year on year during March to just under 1.6 million with the title’s recently launched tabloid edition doing little to reverse the downward slide, according to the latest NRS national newspaper figures.
Last week it was revealed that losses at the Times Newspapers are expected to reach in excess of £28.6 million this year, up from £16.3 million last year. Industry estimates claim the paper is currently spending £12 million producing and marketing its tabloid version, despite relatively slow take up by readers (see Tabloid Pushes Losses At The Times To £28 Million).
Things were decidedly more positive for the Independent, which saw an impressive 19.4% year on year increase in readership to 678,000. Speculation has been mounting that the paper is planning to ditch is broadsheet format altogether, in favour of its recently launched tabloid incarnation.
The Guardian saw readership decline by 17.1% during the same period amid rumours it is planning to follow in the footsteps of the Independent and the Times with its own compact edition. However, these were quashed by the paper’s editor. Alan Rusbridger, who hinted that a mid-sized edition somewhere between a compact and a broadsheet may be the answer to declining sales (see Guardian Considers Midsize Edition To Boost Sales).
None of the daily tabloids saw an increase in readership during March. The Daily Mirror was the worst hit, with a number of high-profile exclusives failing to prevent a sharp 13.8% year on year decline. Trinity Mirror’s People also performed poorly with readership slipping by 9.7% during the same period to below the 1.5 million mark.
Meanwhile, News International’s Sun dropped by 4.5% to just over 8.8 million readers. Last month Belinda Furneaux-Harris stepped down from her role as marketing director at title just nine months after taking up the job (see Mirror Denies Watson Will Defect To Rival News Group).
The Sunday paper’s put in a much stronger performance, with the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Express, Sunday Mirror and the Independent on Sunday all seeing their readership increase. The Independent on Sunday saw the most significant upward movement with readership rising by 9.8% year on year to 730,000.
The News Of The World, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times were the only Sunday titles to suffer a downturn. However, these were moderate with none of the three titles losing more than 1.8%.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – March 2004 | ||||
| Title | Oct 02-Mar 03 | Oct 03-Mar 04 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 2,210,000 | 2,110,000 | -100,000 | -4.5 |
| Daily Mail | 5,905,000 | 5,571,000 | -334,000 | -5.7 |
| Daily Mirror | 5,444,000 | 4,695,000 | -749,000 | -13.8 |
| Daily Record | 1,494,000 | 1,426,000 | -68,000 | -4.6 |
| Daily Star | 2,007,000 | 1,852,000 | -155,000 | -7.7 |
| Daily Star Sunday | n/a | 1,169,000 | n/a | n/a |
| Daily Telegraph | 2,454,000 | 2,193,000 | -261,000 | -10.6 |
| Financial Times | 509,000 | 480,000 | -29,000 | -5.7 |
| Guardian | 1,352,000 | 1,121,000 | -231,000 | -17.1 |
| Independent | 568,000 | 678,000 | 110,000 | 19.4 |
| Independent On Sunday | 666,000 | 731,000 | 65,000 | 9.8 |
| Mail On Sunday | 6,250,000 | 6,328,000 | 78,000 | 1.2 |
| News Of The World | 9,679,000 | 9,563,000 | -116,000 | -1.2 |
| Observer | 1,259,000 | 1,283,000 | 24,000 | 1.9 |
| People | 2,675,000 | 2,416,000 | -259,000 | -9.7 |
| Sun | 9,252,000 | 8,838,000 | -414,000 | -4.5 |
| Sunday Express | 2,165,000 | 2,307,000 | 142,000 | 6.6 |
| Sunday Mirror | 5,158,000 | 5,203,000 | 45,000 | 0.9 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,108,000 | 2,070,000 | -38,000 | -1.8 |
| Sunday Times | 3,360,000 | 3,354,000 | -6,000 | -0.2 |
| Times | 1,894,000 | 1,560,000 | -334,000 | -17.6 |
| Total | 66,409,000 | 64,948,000 | -1,461,000 | -2.2 |
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