My elation from yesterday, at what could have been perceived as a softening of the falls, was short lived when it was pointed out that the February ABC figures I had used were in fact the six month average to February and not the February only ABC. As you will see below the picture is indeed bleak (I should have known: it was “good news” in the same sentence as “Newspapers” – seriously).
In fact The Sun and The Mirror took a bath last month especially the former dropping 2,200 on the month. Overall the tabloids are down 4,300 on the month (3%) and 8% on the year. The Daily Mail also had a bad month dropping 2,300.
Adding to the wows in Trinity Mirror, the Sunday edition was down a staggering 3,300 on the month or 10% and are only 205 copies from falling into the 20’s. This month represents their biggest month on month percentage fall since the (re)introduction of the Sun on Sunday in March 2012, so it’s cause for a raised eyebrow.
The Sunday Times just can’t catch a break with 4,300 disappearing from their figures this month. The vision of hindsight is a dangerous thing, but has the price increase to €3 really begun to kick in. On the other hand the Mail on Sunday picked up 2,000 this month which may be just a coincidence. The money side of yesterdays yarn still stands up. So this month will contribute to the overall newspaper market being down €4m annually.
Title | Feb-15 | Feb-14 | Jan-15 | Y o Y | M o M | Y % +/- | M % +/- |
Daily Mirror | 44,348 | 51,093 | 46,235 | -6,745 | -1,887 | -13% | -4% |
Daily Record | 303 | 415 | 293 | -112 | 10 | -27% | 3% |
Irish Daily Star | 57,277 | 61,121 | 57,515 | -3,844 | -238 | -6% | 0% |
The Sun | 56,345 | 60,199 | 58,611 | -3,854 | -2,266 | -6% | -4% |
Tabloids | 158,273 | 172,828 | 162,654 | -14,555 | -4,381 | -8% | -3% |
Daily Express | 2,507 | 2,738 | 2,675 | -231 | -168 | -8% | -6% |
Irish Daily Mail | 46,824 | 50,009 | 49,163 | -3,185 | -2,339 | -6% | -5% |
The Daily Telegraph | 2,522 | 2,636 | 2,683 | -114 | -161 | -4% | -6% |
Financial Times | 2,404 | 2,511 | 2,419 | -107 | -15 | -4% | -1% |
The Guardian | 2,521 | 2,773 | 2,765 | -252 | -244 | -9% | -9% |
i | |||||||
The Independent | |||||||
The Times | 2,242 | 2,092 | 2,280 | 150 | -38 | 7% | -2% |
Morning Market | 217,293 | 235,587 | 224,639 | -18,294 | -7,346 | -8% | -3% |
Daily Star – Sunday | 16,574 | 20,210 | 17,384 | -3,636 | -810 | -18% | -4% |
The Sun/NotW | 52,553 | 55,675 | 53,256 | -3,122 | -703 | -6% | -1% |
Sunday Mail | 795 | 875 | 787 | -80 | 8 | -9% | 1% |
Sunday Mirror | 30,204 | 35,353 | 33,570 | -5,149 | -3,366 | -15% | -10% |
The People | 11,800 | 14,403 | 11,440 | -2,603 | 360 | -18% | 2% |
Sunday Express | 3,164 | 3,617 | 3,103 | -453 | 61 | -13% | 2% |
Sunday Post | 492 | 549 | 482 | -57 | 10 | -10% | 2% |
The Mail on Sunday | 92,190 | 100,086 | 90,000 | -7,896 | 2,190 | -8% | 2% |
Independent on Sunday | |||||||
The Observer | 4,909 | 5,478 | 4,929 | -569 | -20 | -10% | 0% |
The Sunday Telegraph | 2,176 | 2,570 | 2,170 | -394 | 6 | -15% | 0% |
The Sunday Times | 83,753 | 94,372 | 88,072 | -10,619 | -4,319 | -11% | -5% |
Sunday Market | 298,610 | 333,188 | 305,193 | -34,578 | -6,583 | -10% | -2% |
Total Market | 515,903 | 568,775 | 529,832 | -52,872 | -13,929 | -9% | -2% |
Sobering fact: I estimate that the National Newspaper Market is currently worth around €310m, at the till, and there are a lot of mouths to feed from that. A one percent drop in circulation of all titles would equate to a €2m collective loss of revenue annually.