Five key takeouts from the latest PAMCo release for newsbrands

The latest cross-platform audience figures for UK newsbrands have been released today, offering insight into how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected readership.

With face-to-face interviewing suspended from March 17, PAMCo has used the same print audience estimates as it did for Q1 (covering April 19 to March 20), fused with the latest Comscore data for September 2020.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Most newsbrands increased their reach year-on-year (YoY)

Even though some titles saw their monthly total brand reach (print and digital reach combined) fall period-on-period (PoP), almost all were up over the year.

The Telegraph and the Independent were the only titles to see their reach decline year-on-year, by -5.6% and -11.3%, respectively.

According to national newsbrand marketing body Newsworks, the UK news sector (including national and regional titles) now reaches 49 million people a month, 47 million a week and 37 million a day.

2. Mixed fortunes in the freebies market

The Metro saw its readership grow by 1.7% PoP and 4.0% YoY to 26.2 million, mainly through phone reach.

The Evening Standard, however, fell -13.6% PoP but increased 1.9% over the year, owing its gain to phone and desktop readership.

3. The popular market performed well YoY

The popular titles made up for falling print readership over the year with digital growth. The Daily Star recorded the highest growth YoY at 52.3%, with a notable phone reach increase of 78.7%.

4. The best performing national title over the period was the i

The i saw its total brand reach rise 56.5% over the period (and 4.4% over the year) to 7.7 million, driven by growth in reach via phone, desktop and tablet.

5. The best performing national title over the year was The Times

The newsbrand grew its total brand reach by a remarkable 80.6% YoY and by 10.9% over the period. A 174.5% increase in phone reach YoY, as well as a 159.5% rise via tablet, more than offset a -5% decline in print readership.

Subscribers can find a full break down of the multi-platform figures for all reporting newsbrands in the tables below, or by logging in to Mediatel Connected.