A Mixed Bag of Results for National Newspapers in the Latest ABCs
February’s ABC figures show the national daily market down overall by 5.4% year on year and 3.5% period on period (these figures exclude i to enable like for like comparisons).
The i has bucked the general downward trend, increasing circulation by an impressive 31.6% since it was first audited in January. Its stablemate the Independent was also up albeit just 0.14% period on period, however when we strip out the bulk copies from both titles, i has actually sold around 60,000 copies more than the Independent. This in itself must give the print market a confidence boost that despite a crowded marketplace there is still room for new and successful launches with the right product.
The Guardian was the biggest loser in the quality market, down almost 6% although there were some circulation rises in this sector with both the Independent on Sunday and Sunday Times up marginally versus January. It should be noted that the Independent on Sunday however, has increased its bulks by around 4,000 copies since December and without them is up just 0.14% nationally. The title has however taken a considerable jump in Scotland up 8.44% although this increase only takes its weekly Scottish sale to just over 6,500.
In Scotland the February ABC has proved a shocker for the newly re-launched Sunday Herald, down 23.21% pop. These figures are likely to be a great disappointment to Newsquest as when this title relaunched on 9 January there was considerable promotional support behind it. We will need to see how their circulation pans out in the coming months but it may be that the single paper format is not popular with the Sunday morning readership as readers are unable to share out the sections.
The Herald performed better than east coast adversary The Scotsman with the Scotsman losing 3.6% vs January figures compared with the Herald’s 1.65% although both are down over 8% year on year.