Price War Summary: August ’95 To July ’96
November 1995 saw The Daily Mirror increase its cover price by one pence to 28p. The Daily Express also increased its price by 3p to 35p, the same as The Daily Mail. The Sunday Express increased from 60p to 75p. The Times saw a rise from 25p to 30p with the Saturday edition at 40p.
In February 1996 both The Sun and The Daily Mirror increased their Saturday editions by 2p (Sun 27p, Mirror 30p). Following an increase of 5p, from 35p, The Daily Telegraph is now priced at 40p.
The Sun’s weekday cover price rose to 27p in March 1996, with The Daily Mirror also increasing to 30p. The Daily Star also went up to 28p from 25p on 5th February.
In June 1996, The Scottish Sunday Times reduced its cover price by 50% to 50p. At the same time, Scotland On Sunday cut its price by a third to 50p. Both papers claimed that sales increased by 25-30% to 110,000. The Daily Telegraph and The Independent also entered a summer price war. The Times was priced at 10p every Monday for the summer and The Independent offered vouchers which reduced its price to 10p on Mondays and Wednesdays. The Daily Telegraph also offered a voucher for the Monday issue at 10p.
5th July 1996 saw both The Sun and The Daily Mirror priced at 10p. This was claimed as a one-off by both publications.
SUMMARY OF PRICE CHANGES FROM JULY 1993 – JULY 1996 :
| DATE | TITLE | CHANGE | MONTHLY ABC FIGURE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/7/93 | Sun | 25p to 20p | 3,598,056 (7/93) |
| 02/9/93 | Times | 45p to 30p | 442,106 (9/93) |
| 23/6/94 | Telegraph | 48p to 30p | 1,006,961 (6/94) |
| 24/6/94 | Times | 30p to 20p | 524,270 (6/94) |
| 01/8/94 | Independent | 50p to 30p | 289,403 (8/94) |
| 22/8/94 | Sun | 20p to 22p | 4,183,647 (8/94) |
| 13/2/95 | Sun | 22p to 23p | 4,125,382 (2/95) |
| 12/6/95 | Sun | 23p to 25p | 3,987,030 (6/95) |
| 03/7/95 | Times | 20p to 25p | 682,419 (6/95) |
| 04/7/95 | Telegraph | 30p to 35p | 1,072,435 (6/95) |
| 09/7/95 | Mail on Sunday | 65p to 75p | 1,965,091 (6/95) |
| 09/7/95 | Sunday Mirror | 50p to 55p | 2,627,516 (6/95) |
| 09/7/95 | News of the World | 50p to 55p | 4,681,973 (6/95) |
| 09/7/95 | People | 50p to 55p | 2,035,148 (6/95) |
| 17/7/95 | Independent | 30p to 35p | 303,273 (6/95) |
| 31/7/95 | Daily Mail | 30p to 35p | 1,773,253 (6/95) |
| Nov-95 | The Times | 25p to 30p | 672,521 (11/95) |
| Nov-95 | The Times (Sat) | 35p to 40p | 672,521 (11/95) |
| Nov-95 | The Sunday Express | 60p to 75p | 1,332,904 |
| Nov-95 | Daily Express | 32p to 35p | 1,252,811 |
| Nov-95 | Daily Mirror | 27p to 28p | 2,492,285 (11/95) |
| Feb-96 | The Sun (Sat) | 25p to 27p | 4,073,601 (2/96) |
| Feb-96 | The Daily Mirror (Sat) | 28p to 30 | 2,514,427 (2/96) |
| Feb-96 | The Daily Telegraph | 35p to 40p | 1,027,882 (2/96) |
| Mar-96 | The Sun | 25p to 27p | 4,101,117 (3/96) |
| Mar-96 | The Daily Mirror | 28p to 30p | 2,480,231 |
| Mar-96 | The Daily Star | 25p to 28p | 748,773 |
| Jun-96 | The Scottish Sunday Times | £1.00 to 50p | NA |
| Jun-96 | Scotland On Sunday | 75p to 50p | NA |
| Jun-96 | The Daily Telegraph | *+10p on Monday | 1052,963 (6/96) |
| Jun-96 | The Independent | *+10p on Monday and Wednesday | 272,928 (6/96) |
| Jun-96 | The Times | +10p on Monday | 724,839 (6/96) |
| Jul-96 | The Sun | 10p one-off 5/7/96 | NA |
| Jul-96 | The Daily Mirror | 10p one-off 5/7/96 | NA |
| *by way of vouchers +summer ’96 only | |||