Tabloid Readership Declines As Qualities Prosper
New data from the National Readership Survey shows Britain’s quality newspapers in rude health, with the majority of titles adding to their totals year on year towards the end of 2004, while popular titles suffered wide-reaching readership decline.
The data shows the Sun, Britain’s best read daily newspaper, with a readership of 8.2 million suffering an 8% downturn year on year in the 12 months to September 2005. Arch rival the Daily Mirror also saw depressing results, down 11% in the same period to 4.2 million.
In contrast, quality titles such as the Times, Guardian and Independent saw a positive 12 months, adding 9%, 14% and 7% to their readerships respectively. The new figures will be of particular interest to The Guardian, for which the results mark the last period of its broadsheet publication, prior to its switch to Berliner format in September (see Guardian Hits Newsstands In Berliner Format).
Not all quality titles enjoyed success, however, with both the Daily Telegraph and Financial Times seeing readership declines according to the NRS figures. The Telegraph shed 3% year on year, while the FT lost 20% in the same period.
A similar pattern could be seen amongst the nation’s Sunday titles, with all quality and mid market titles experiencing a growth in readership, with the exception of the Sunday Telegraph, while declines in audience were evident across the board for Britain’s popular titles.
The soon-to-be Berliner Observer saw the largest increase in readership, adding 10% year on year over the 12 months to September, while The People suffered the largest slip, losing 15% from its total in the same period.
A heavy decline was also recorded by rivals the News of The World and Sunday Mirror, both losing 9% to see their readerships total 9.6 million and 5 million respectively.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – 12 Month Data | ||||
| Daily Titles | Oct 03-Sep 04 | Oct 04-Sep 05 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,217,000 | 2,156,000 | -61,000 | -2.8 |
| Financial Times | 494,000 | 394,000 | -100,000 | -20.2 |
| Guardian | 1,072,000 | 1,217,000 | 145,000 | 13.5 |
| Independent | 627,000 | 672,000 | 45,000 | 7.2 |
| Times | 1,628,000 | 1,781,000 | 153,000 | 9.4 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 2,088,000 | 2,064,000 | -24,000 | -1.1 |
| Daily Mail | 5,666,000 | 5,682,000 | 16,000 | 0.3 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 4,737,000 | 4,214,000 | -523,000 | -11.0 |
| Daily Record | 1,362,000 | 1,277,000 | -85,000 | -6.2 |
| Daily Star | 1,936,000 | 1,825,000 | -111,000 | -5.7 |
| Sun | 8,872,000 | 8,157,000 | -715,000 | -8.1 |
| Total Daily | 24,661,000 | 23,219,000 | -1,442,000 | -5.85 |
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – 12 Month Data | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Oct 03-Sep 04 | Oct 04-Sep 05 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday. | 689,000 | 748,000 | 59,000 | 8.6 |
| Observer | 1,177,000 | 1,297,000 | 120,000 | 10.2 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,063,000 | 2,059,000 | -4,000 | -0.2 |
| Sunday Times | 3,268,000 | 3,535,000 | 267,000 | 8.2 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday. | 6,260,000 | 6,410,000 | 150,000 | 2.4 |
| Sunday Express | 2,233,000 | 2,242,000 | 9,000 | 0.4 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday. | 1,179,000 | 1,092,000 | -87,000 | -7.4 |
| News Of The World | 9,565,000 | 8,665,000 | -900,000 | -9.4 |
| People | 2,311,000 | 1,963,000 | -348,000 | -15.1 |
| Sunday Mirror | 5,056,000 | 4,614,000 | -442,000 | -8.7 |
| Total Sunday | 33,801,000 | 32,625,000 | -1,176,000 | -3.5 |
NRS: 020 7242 8111 www.nrs.co.uk