News International claims an unverified total paid audience for the Times in February of 526,556
News International has revealed new digital sales figures for The Times and Sunday Times brands – in the wake of average sales of The Times in February dropping below 400,000 (397,549) copies for the first time since 1993.
Media Week reports that News International claims that the number of digital subscribers to The Times in February was 129,007 - producing an unverified total paid audience of 526,556.
News International said the combined total for The Times represents a year-on-year increase of nearly 1594 sales between last month and February, 2011.
The Sunday Times reports 124,136 digital subscribers resulting in a total paid audience of 1,063,531 - down slightly from 1,120,628 the year before.
An NI spokesperson is quoted by Media Week as saying: "The number of digital subscribers to The Times and The Sunday Times has continued to grow month-on-month, with subscriptions to The Times rising by nearly 10,000 in February compared to January. The Sunday Times saw a rise of over 10,000.
"Meanwhile, the number of readers on the iPad continues to increase. In February, an average of 55,823 copies of The Times was downloaded daily on the iPad, a 26% increase since September, 2011."
The average number of The Sunday Times iPad edition downloaded in February was 72,223 - a 104% increase since September, 2011.