ABCs: Festive period takes its toll on national newspapers

Unsurprisingly, Christmas took its toll on national newspaper circulations in December, with few titles across the three markets reporting any gains.

Dailies

The only titles in the dailies to record an increase in circulation over the month were the Financial Times and the Times – both in the quality market – up 0.5% period on period (PoP) and 0.4% PoP, respectively.

Elsewhere in the quality market, the Daily Telegraph was down -1.8% during December, losing 8,700 copies, while the ‘i’ was down -1.4%, dropping a little over 3,800.

As to be expected, the yearly declines were much more significant, with the Guardian down -12.4% (25,200) and the Telegraph down -10.2% (-55,000).

In the mid market, a -0.7% PoP decline saw the Daily Mail lose 11,500 copies; however, it remains the second best-performing title of the entire daily market – just behind The Sun, which, despite losing over 39,400 copies over the period, recorded a solid 1.89 million copies in December.

A -2.7% PoP decline in circulation saw the Daily Star lose 12,000 copies, while the Daily Mirror was down -0.6% PoP and the Daily Record down -1% PoP.

Apart from Murdoch’s Sun, which was up a healthy 13.4% year on year, all other titles in the popular market recorded declines, with the biggest belonging to fellow red-top the Daily Star, which lost 65,400 copies after a -13.3% decrease in circulation.

Overall, the total daily market was down -1.1% over the month and -2.4% over the year, recording a total circulation of 7.14 million in December.

Sunday market

The Christmas period was not kind to the Sunday newspaper market with every title recording a loss during December.

At the quality end, the Observer was the worst performer, down -3.3%, or -6,761 copies. Over the last year the title has also recorded a drop of -12.2% – just over 27,000 copies.

The Sunday Telegraph was down -2.8% (-11,000 copies), and dropped almost -10% year on year (almost 42,000 less papers).

Elsewhere in the quality end of the market, the Sunday Times recorded a -2.1% drop whilst the Independent on Sunday dipped -1.9%.

The mid-market performed similarly, with the worst performer, The Sunday Express, dropping -2.2% in December and selling more than 8,900 less copies than in November.

The Mail on Sunday was down -1.8%, dropping over 27,000 copies, and the Sunday Post dropped -2% (just 3,800 copies).

All of the mid-market Sunday titles have recorded declines over the last year between -7% and -13%.

In the popular market the Sun on Sunday, despite an impressive lead with more than 1.5 million sales, was also the worst performer – down -5%, which meant it sold almost 80,000 less copies than in November.

Over the last year, the Sun on Sunday has seen a -10% drop in circulation – equating to 167,500 fewer copies.

Overall, the Sunday market was down -2.9% in December and down -10% over the last year.

London Free Press

The free market continued the under-performing festive trend, with all three titles down in circulation in December.

While the London Evening Standard was up a healthy 21.9% year on year, the title dropped almost 50,000 copies in December.

In comparison, Metro (London), which has a similar circulation to the Standard, was down just -0.8% PoP, losing 5,900.

A small 0.9% PoP dip saw City A.M. down 1,000 copies, while a -4.6% decline over the year saw the title lose a modest 5,500.

Overall, the free market was down -3.3% over the month, but up 8.3% over the year to secure a total circulation of 1.69 million.