Newspaper ABCs: May was a grim month to be in print

Following two static months for the national daily newspaper market, the trend of decline continued in May.

Overall, the daily market was down almost -2% period-on-period, and down -8.7% year-on-year.

Only one title, the Financial Times, was able to record any growth in circulation, up, just 0.3% PoP.

Otherwise, every title recorded a decline. The worst performing title was – perhaps surprisingly – the second most popular paper, the Sun. The red top was down -5%, dropping 68,000 copies in May. This sharp drop could be explained by the two bank holiday weekends, however.

Overall, it was a similar picture in the Sunday market where no title was able to boost its figures – except the Sunday Mirror, up 0.8% PoP.

Period-on-period, the Sunday market was down -2.1%, and over the year down -13.7%.

The London free press – which includes the Evening Standard, City A.M. and Metro was down -3.2% overall last month, also suffering from the bank holiday lulls.