Analysis: the latest ABC figures for June
The latest ABC figures included the final full month for the now defunct News of the World. Martin Wilson, press account manager for Feather Brooksbank casts an eye over the latest figures.
With all that’s gone on so far in the world of press in July it seems particularly unusual to be commenting on June ABC figures. June now feels like a very distant month when all was good (or at least normal) in newspaper land. No doubt the June ABCs will mark the end of a current trend in circulations and July will be the beginning of the “Post News of the World” era. However, for the moment let’s focus on the figures from June and let’s leave News of the World until last.
Overall June figures brought a return to the ongoing decline to newspaper circulations after relatively healthy months in April and May. June saw a decline of 0.9% compared to May in the daily market, a significant enough number but not as significant as the previous months of February and March which saw equivalent drops of 3.5% and 1.2% respectively. This is still disappointing though considering the encouraging growth months in April and May.
In the quality market the i is continuing to prove successful with a further gain of 6,000 copies, up 3.7% on May and now circulating a very healthy 173,165 copies. This represents steady growth for the new kid on the block and is a very encouraging sign. It’ll be interesting to see how long this progress can continue. However, the other qualities showed declines compared to May ranging from 1.4% (The Times) to 2.5% (The Guardian). The figures are more concerning from a year-on-year perspective with the Times (down 12.5%) and the Guardian (down 10.5%) being the biggest losers across the 12 month period. This long term performance for the quality sector will be a real cause for concern in comparison to the less significant declines in the Mid-market and Popular sectors.
Both mid-market titles showed decline compared to May at 1.5% for the Express and 0.5% for the Daily Mail. Not great results but while the Daily Mail remains relatively stable in terms of fluctuations over the months the Express will be trying to address the 6.4% year-on-year decline that the June ABCs demonstrate.
In popular press the Daily Mirror and Daily Star will have their heads held high having both registered small month on month increases of 0.2% and 0.9% respectively. The Daily Star figures over the longer term paint a different story altogether showing a 12.6% decline year-on-year, double the decline rate of it’s nearest popular competitor. The Sun and The Daily Record both showed small declines in June. The Sun continues to be the UK’s most popular tabloid with a circulation of just over 2.8 million copies, far greater than the combined circulations of the Mirror, Star and the Record. Watch this space to see how that develops over the next couple of months.
The Sunday market declined overall by 0.8% since May, which is just slightly less than the overall market average. However, there were small increases for the Mail on Sunday, Sunday Mirror and (dare I say it) the News of the World.
The Sunday Times dropped by 4.6% since May which is a significant drop and it’s unlikely to fare any better going forwards as News International continue to create adverse headlines. June is likely to be the last time the Sunday Times circulates more than 1 million copies. The Sunday Express also dropped by 4.2%. Otherwise all other changes were fairly minimal.
In Scotland June figures paint a far more depressing picture than the national perspective. Overall there was decline of around 2% since May but this figure has been helped by reasonable performances by the big selling Sundays (Sunday Mail and News of the World). Perhaps predictably the Sunday Herald is the biggest loser, down 9.6% since May. After it’s headline grabbing Ryan Giggs cover story the good news has not lasted long for this publication and surely such declines cannot be tolerated for too long for a title selling less than 30,000 copies in Scotland. The Sunday Herald is not alone though with others such as Sunday Times, Scotland on Sunday and Mail on Sunday all falling over 6% month on month. Let’s hope that many Scottish Sunday newspaper readers were away on holiday in June.
Last but not least the News of the World. June will be the last full month ABC audit and it was a positive one. With the title no longer on the market there’s an enormous amount of newspaper readers looking for an alternative. Other Sunday titles will be doing their utmost to attract these readers and lets hope for the sake of the Sunday market and the newspaper market as a whole that these readers do find a suitable press alternative and stick to it. Roll on the July ABC results; it’ll be one of the most significant months we’re likely to ever see from a newspaper perspective.