ABC reports UK regional print sales slump 10% - with no circulation growth whatsoever
UK regional print titles suffered a dismal six months with year-on-year sales down by an average of 10.2 per cent.
Indicating a worsening situation for print output, of the 70 titles audited by the ABC, none reported any paid readership growth. The Lancashire Telegraph did in actuality boost its circulation with the help of a bulk distribution of 1,615 free copies.
The Birmingham Mail witnessed one of the most dramatic declines, losing almost a quarter of its paid print readership in the six month period.
Absent from the audit was Trinity Mirror titles due to its decision to change its reported from monthly, to biannual, and back to biannual during the measurement period.
The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade calculated the Trinity Mirror title’s circulation decline with the available figures, again noting that the publisher failed to break the industry-wide trend.
The ABC earlier this month released figures for UK magazine sales, documenting only a 5 per cent slump in print distribution.
Only a third of the 90 digital editions on the other hand were found to have suffered a circulation dip.