National Newspaper ABCs – October 2014

In line with the increasingly grey weather, the latest ABC figures paint a relatively bland picture for national newspapers over the last month – with few titles recording any major increases or decreases in circulation.

Dailies

Of the daily titles the Daily Express was the only newspaper to see its circulation increase, with a small 1.5% period on period (PoP) rise netting the title an extra 7,000 copies for the month.

Worst hit in October was the Daily Record after seeing its circulation drop by -3.2% PoP (-6,644), followed by the Daily Star (-2.6% PoP, -11,798) and the Independent (-2.5% PoP, -1,608).

A -2% PoP decline in circulation saw Murdoch’s Sun lose over 40,700 copies over the month; however, the title is still the best performing daily with an average circulation of almost 2 million.

At a little under 1.7 million, the next most-circulated title is the Daily Mail; however, similarly to the majority of other titles, the newspaper suffered a marginal monthly decrease that lost it 35,500 copies in October.

In terms of yearly performance, The Times was the only title to record an increase in circulation, up 1.6% year on year to net an extra 6,424.

In contrast, the majority of other daily titles recorded big yearly losses, with the largest declines belonging to the Daily Record (-15.8%), the Daily Star (-13.7%), the Independent (-10.9%) and the Financial Times (-10.7%).

While the Guardian was down by just -0.9% over the month, the title decreased its circulation by almost 10% over the year, losing a little under 19,700 copies.

Overall the daily market was down -1.6% compared with the previous month and -7.6% over the year.

London Free Press

There was very little change in the free market in October, with Metro (London) – the only title to see a decline in circulation – down just -0.4% PoP.

A 0.1% PoP rise netted the London Evening Standard an extra 1,000 copies over the month, while a 1.1% PoP increase boosted City A.M.’s circulation by a little over 1,200.

The yearly changes were much more significant, however, with a -1.5% decline losing Metro 11,551 copies, and a -6.2% decrease taking City A.M.’s total circulation down by almost 7,600.

As is to be expected since extending its print run, the Evening Standard was up 26.1% compared with this time last year to add an extra 182,576 copies.

As a result, the entire free market was up 10.2% year on year.

Sunday market

October was a relatively stable month with no major upsets to report for the Sunday papers.

Overall the market was down just 1.1%, period on period, however, over the last year, recorded a -9.4% decline. This resulted in a drop of almost 730,000 papers being sold.

In the quality market Independent on Sunday saw the biggest drop in October, down -1.2% (1,228 copies).

The Sunday Times was down -1% (8,500 copies) whilst the Sunday Telegraph was up just 0.3%, or 1,118 extra papers sold.

A small 0.3% PoP increase saw the Observer gain an extra 529 copies over the month, however, like its daily counterpart, the title was down over the year – with a -12.4% decrease losing it just over 28,400 copies.

In the mid-market, the Mail on Sunday recorded slight growth of 0.6% (9,500 copies), with the Sunday Express down -1.5% – a drop of more than 6,000 – and the Sunday Post up slightly by 0.8% (1,685 copies).

All titles in the mid-market saw yearly declines between seven and 10 per cent.

In the popular market only one title, the Sunday Mail, recorded any growth between September and October.

However, up just 0.2%, the impact was minimal, with only an extra 428 copies sold.

The Sunday Mirror recorded the largest decline in October, down -2.9% – a substantial 27,400 copies – whilst the Sun on Sunday was down -2.5%, or 41,300 copies.