ABC newspaper circulation analysis: October proves another good month for i
Overview by Fiona Booth – Research Manager
The national newspaper market in October was down by 1.2% on September, according to new figures released today by ABC, with the dailies faring marginally better down 1.1% compared to the Sundays who were down 1.3%. The total market’s decline over the year is steeper with total sales down by 4.0% on last October, the dailies bearing the brunt of this, down 8.7%, whilst the Sundays were up a comparatively buoyant 1.4%.
The Sun continues to be the biggest selling national newspaper with an average net circulation in October of 2,384,895, despite shedding over 60k copies this month, the most of any title. Sister title The Sun Sunday follows close behind, the only other national title to sell over 2m copies a day with an average net circulation in October of 2,037,515. The Daily Mail rounds out the top three selling titles in October with an average net circulation of 1,866,701.
Only three titles posted sales growth on September this month, and all from the Quality sector: i +21,696, FT + 5,431, Daily Telegraph +73. i’s growth in October didn’t come from bulks but from full rate sales, helped in no small part by being available in 600 Starbucks outlets from the first of the month as it newspaper chases young professionals. i is also the only title in the national market to claim circulation gains in October compared to this time last year. At the other end of the scale, the Sunday Mirror took the biggest hit year on year in terms of actual copies, down over 700k, while The People lost the greatest share of circulation, down 43.6%.
Looking at the different sectors within the market, the Qualities bucked the trend by seeing a marginal lift in sales of 0.5% on September, thanks to having the only three titles that saw circulation gains month on month. Longer term, the picture is still of decline with the sector selling 6.1% less than it was this time last year.
The Mid Markets saw the worst sector performance year on year, down 12.3% compared to last October. Compared to last month, sales were down “only” 0.9%.
The Popular sector was hit hardest month on month, down 2.2% in October compared to September. Longer term, the sales for this sector are up 2.6% on last October when News International didn’t have a Sunday red top in play and not all of the old News of the World readers had replaced the red top with another read.
All figures sourced from ABC