NRS Round-Up – October To March 96

National Newspapers

The latest NRS AIR estimates for October to March show that national newspaper total readership is falling, down by 1.107 million readers year on year.

News International’s Sun and Times have both increased readership however, recording AIRs of 10.415 million and 1.648 million respectively, up 7.15% and 3.63%. Associated’s Daily Mail recorded the biggest increase year on year of all national newspapers, up 8.5% , or an extra 376,000 readers to 4.798 million. The Daily Mail’s Sunday stablemate, the Mail on Sunday also increased its readership over the year, up by 92,000 readers to just over the 6 million mark. The Financial Times and the Guardian were the only other quality titles to better last year’s readership estimates.

The Independent’s readership also fell over the year, from 924,000 last year to 762,000 this year, a decrease of 17.5% or 162,000 readers. Its sister title did not fare quite so badly, although it still lost 36,000 readers year on year. The Telegraph titles are also suffering a drop in readership; the Daily lost 216,000 readers year on year to 2.445 million, whilst the Sunday Telegraph lost 193,000 readers to 1.853 million.

The popular titles fared better, with both the Daily Mirror and Star increasing their readership. The Sunday Sport lost 112,000 readers to 836,000.