National newspaper sales continue to fall as only three titles post month on month growth
Overview by Fiona Booth – Research Manager
The National newspaper market in November fell 1.3% on October’s figures with sales longer term down 3.9% when compared to last November, according to the latest sales figures released by the ABC. Only three titles posted growth month on month – the Daily Mail, The Daily Express and The Guardian – with the i the only title to see any growth over twelve months.
Sitting pretty on top of the pile in November was The Sun again with an average net circulation in November of 2,361,683, down 1.0% and 10% on last month and last year respectively. Sister title The Sun Sunday followed with average net sales of 2,009,282 this month. However, the newest title in the market continues to shed copies, losing the most physical copies month on month of any title (-28,233), and we’d be surprised if it didn’t drop below the 2m mark in December. The Daily Mail on the other hand added the most physical copies in November (+4,876), one of only three to post growth, with circulation this month of 1,871,577. Longer term, however, the title was down 6.5% versus November 2011.
The Daily market fared better than the Sunday when comparing to October, but despite the only three growth titles coming from the Dailies they were still collectively down 0.9% month on month. Compared to last year, the Dailies were down a much steeper 8.0% whereas the Sunday market was up a nominal 0.8% as we continue to feel the effects of The Sun Sunday’s replacing the News of the World.
By sector, the Mid Markets fared best when compared to last month, down only 0.4% thanks to the two rival dailies’ performance - The Daily Mail added the most physical copies whilst The Daily Express added the greatest percentage growth. However, the Mids saw the steepest declines this November compared to last, down 11.8% year on year. The Qualities and Pops were down 1.6% and 1.7% respectively compared to last month, but the Pops stole the positive edge with growth of 3.0% on the same time last year (when we were a red top down) whereas the Qualities are down 6.9% year on year.
Elsewhere, the i continues to claim greatest growth year on year, up 36.4% compared to last November after taking on sister titles The Independent’s bulk sales, but sees a rare dip in sales month on month of 0.8%.
All figures sourced from ABC