NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: March 2006
Daily Newspaper Market
National daily newspapers endured another difficult six months with readership down a dramatic 6.4% year on year from October to March.
Almost all titles suffered a downturn, with popular and mid-market titles seeing the worst decline in readership. The Daily Express lost 17.4% of its audience, while the Daily Star dropped by 15%. The Daily Mirror had the largest dip in actual readership, falling by 517,000.
The Independent and the Times were the only two titles to buck the trend.
The Indy‘s profile soared by an impressive 18.5%, pushing its readership up to 751,000 for October to March. The Times also performed well, gaining a healthy 145,000 new readers.
Quality Daily Titles
There were mixed results for the quality dailies, with some papers experiencing a striking deterioration in readership figures and others seeing a notable upwards spike.
Market-leader the Daily Telegraph shed 150,000 readers, a 6.8% downturn, while second place quality the Times saw its readers jump a huge 145,000 or 8.7%, leaving its readership at 1,809,000.
The biggest percentage upturn in readership was for the Independent, which upped its audience by a laudable 18.5% or 117,000, which gives the paper an estimated readership of 751,000.
On the other hand, 6.8% of the Guardian‘s readership deserted the resized Berliner (see Guardian Hits Newsstands In Berliner Format), giving it a readership of 1,158,000, down 84,000 from the same period last year.
Mid Market Daily Titles
The mid market titles had a bad six months from October to March year on year, with both the Daily Express and the Daily Mail seeing steep downturns in readership.
The Mail lost 450,000 readers or 7.7% but remains by far the market leader with a sizeable 5,427,000. The Express also had a worrying six months, losing 17.4% or 377,000 of its readership, giving it an estimated 1,784,000 readers.
Popular Daily Titles
All popular titles lost readers in the six months from October to March, with some faring worse than others did year on year.
Popular behemoth the Sun, now with a readership of around 8,073,000, lost 196,000 of its audience, while the Daily Star felt the worse percentage downturn, dropping 15.2% of its readers or 284,000.
The worst actual decline came for the Daily Mirror, which saw readership slip by 517,000, leaving 3,884,000 readers. There was further bad news for the Daily Record whose readership fell by 86,000 or 6.7%.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – March 2006 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Oct 04-Mar 05 | Oct 05-Mar 06 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,211,000 | 2,061,000 | -150,000 | -6.8 |
| Guardian | 1,242,000 | 1,158,000 | -84,000 | -6.8 |
| Independent | 634,000 | 751,000 | 117,000 | 18.5 |
| Times | 1,664,000 | 1,809,000 | 145,000 | 8.7 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 2,161,000 | 1,784,000 | -377,000 | -17.4 |
| Daily Mail | 5,877,000 | 5,427,000 | -450,000 | -7.7 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 4,401,000 | 3,884,000 | -517,000 | -11.7 |
| Daily Record | 1,279,000 | 1,193,000 | -86,000 | -6.7 |
| Daily Star | 1,864,000 | 1,580,000 | -284,000 | -15.2 |
| Sun | 8,269,000 | 8,073,000 | -196,000 | -2.4 |
| Total Daily | 29,602,000 | 27,720,000 | -1,882,000 | -6.4 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday newspaper market had a similarly disappointing six months as its daily counterpart, with an overall readership tumble of 5.4% year on year.
There were a few exceptions however, with the Independent on Sunday and the Observer outperforming their fellow quality titles.
The Guardian Newspapers Ltd owned Observer leapt a considerable 3.6%, capturing 48,000 new readers, while the Independent’s Sunday sister upped its readers by 4.3% or 32,000 readers from October to March.
The popular sector, which was dealt the harshest blow, saw one slight glimmer of hope as the People‘s audience climbed a nominal 0.6%.
Quality Sunday Titles
Half of the quality titles suffered readership desertion for the period of October to March year on year, while the other two outperformed their competitors.
The Sunday Telegraph had the biggest loss of readers, falling by 172,000 or 8.1% to 1,947,000. Similarly, the Sunday Times had difficulties with a fall in readership of 4.1%. However it remains the market leader with an estimated audience of almost three-and-a-half million.
Conversely, the Independent on Sunday mirrored its daily’s impressive performance, gaining 32,000 new readers or 4.3%. It remains the market’s least read paper however, behind the Observer, which raised its profile with 48,000 more readers to a total of 1,378,000.
Mid Market Sunday Titles
The Sunday mid market titles suffered readership losses for the six months to March year on year.
Market leader the Mail on Sunday‘s readership fell to just over six million, down 409,000 or 6.2% for the period year on year. The Sunday Express was down 10.4% or 244,000 to just over two million.
Popular Sunday Titles
Most of the popular titles had less readers year on year for October to March with just one title seeing a rise.
The Daily Star on Sunday felt the worst percentage loss with a downturn of 17.2% giving it a readership of 932,000. The Sunday Mirror shed 492,000 readers or 10.4%, leaving it as the second highest selling popular Sunday title with a readership of over four million.
Market leader the News of the World had less readers year on year for the six month period up to March this year, with 214,000 readers departing the red-top to leave its readership at over eight-and-a-half million.
The People bucked the trend with its readership rising slightly by 11,000 people or 0.6% to leave its readership at almost two million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – March 2006 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Oct 04-Mar 05 | Oct 05-Mar 06 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 743,000 | 775,000 | 32,000 | 4.3 |
| Observer | 1,330,000 | 1,378,000 | 48,000 | 3.6 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,119,000 | 1,947,000 | -172,000 | -8.1 |
| Sunday Times | 3,628,000 | 3,478,000 | -150,000 | -4.1 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 6,555,000 | 6,146,000 | -409,000 | -6.2 |
| Sunday Express | 2,343,000 | 2,099,000 | -244,000 | -10.4 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday. | 1,126,000 | 932,000 | -194,000 | -17.2 |
| News Of The World | 8,776,000 | 8,562,000 | -214,000 | -2.4 |
| People | 1,934,000 | 1,945,000 | 11,000 | 0.6 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,720,000 | 4,228,000 | -492,000 | -10.4 |
| Total Sunday | 33,274,000 | 31,490,000 | -1,784,000 | -5.4 |
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