NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: March 2005

Declining readership continued to hit Britain’s daily national newspapers throughout March, with the market as a whole losing 1.5% of readers year on year during the month.

There were glimmers of hope, however, as several titles managed to increase their readership in the face of wide-ranging declines. The Guardian performed particularly well, adding 10.8% to its readership year on year in March, pushing the paper’s total to 1.2 million ahead of a relaunch in mid-size format, expected later this year (see Guardian To Downsize Early, Observer To Follow).

The Times also avoided readership decline, adding 6.7% to its total in the same period, although its readership of 1.7 million is still some way behind Quality market leader, the Daily Telegraph, which added 0.8% year on year in March to maintain its position at the top, with 2.2 million readers.

Elsewhere, the Financial Times and Independent suffered readership dips of 4.2% and 6.5% respectively. The two papers now command readerships of 460,000 and 634,000, making them the lowest read national newspapers in the country.

The Mid Market was more ebullient, however, with both the Daily Express and Daily Mail seeing their readerships increase year on year in March.

The Daily Mail was particularly successful, adding 5.5% year on year, pushing its total readership to 5.9 million, while the Daily Express added 2.4% in the same period to climb to 2.2 million.

Meanwhile, the nation’s Popular newspapers were less fortunate, with only the Daily Star managing to stave off readership recession. The paper added 0.6% year on year, while all others in the sector suffered a decline. The title now commands a readership of 1.9 million, while rival Daily Record suffered the largest downturn in readership.

The Record saw a 10.3% downturn in readership year on year, pushing its total to 1.3 million and cementing its position at the bottom of the Popular market.

Market-leading Sun was also hit hard, however, shedding 6.4% of readers year on year, but maintaining its position as the nation’s best-read national newspaper with a total of 8.3 million. Arch rival the Daily Mirror also saw a downturn, losing 6.3% in the same period to rest at 4.4 million.

The nation’s tabloid titles are believed to be increasingly nervous of competition from men’s weekly titles, such as Nuts and Zoo, with rumours that at least one title is preparing to publish twice-weekly further fuelling newspaper executives’ fears (see Men’s Weeklies To Put More Pressure On Tabloids).

The nation’s Sunday titles also saw a downturn in readership during March, with the market losing 3.3% of its readers year on year, despite positive growth in both the Quality and Mid Market sectors.

The decline in readership throughout March came solely from the nation’s Popular titles, with the People losing the most readers, as 20% of its readership departed compared with the same period last year.

The newspaper’s readership total now stands at 1.9 million, having dipped below the 2 million mark towards the end of 2004.

Elsewhere, the News of the World remained the best-read Sunday title, with a total of 8.8 million readers, despite an 8.2% decline year on year. The Sunday Mirror also suffered, dropping by 9.3% to 4.7 million, further compounding the Popular sector’s depression.

Meanwhile, the Quality market saw some healthy increases in readership, as the Sunday Times added 8.2% to its total year on year, retaining its position as the sector’s best-read title. The Observer also performed well, adding 3.7% year on year, ahead of its transition to a mid-size format later this year (see Guardian To Downsize Early, Observer To Follow).

The Independent on Sunday saw readership increase in the face of decline by its weekday counterpart, adding 1.6% year on year to total 743,000 readers in March.

Both the Sunday Express and Mail on Sunday performed well in the Mid Market, adding 1.6% and 3.6% respectively year on year. The papers now command readerships of 2.3 and 6.6 million, having recovered from a slight dip in readership in the middle of last year.

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