Newspaper Circulation Jan June 2014

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“Ta-da” – the cosmetic adverts catchphrase. I use it mockingly as it heralds the publication, finally, of the ABC’s of the reaming newspapers in the market. Plenty of cosmetics would be needed to make these figures even vaguely attractive.

The total market contacted by 7% over a twelve month period. The market is still 204m newspapers a year, but falling at 7% per annum isn’t a sustainable business model. The morning market is falling faster than the Sunday market and you can have as many hypothesis on that as you like. 

Market JJ 2014 JJ 2013 Diff ‘000 Diff %
Total Sunday 780,613 834,374 -53,761 -6%
Total Morning 463,163 495,991 -32,828 -7%
Total Evening 63,600 73,942 -10,342 -14%
         
Total Market 1,307,376 1,405,818 -98,441 -7%

The two graphs below illustrate the fortunes of each segment. But the last graph shows the rate of decline in each market.

over 2014

I’ve superimposed out GDP growth/decline over the same period to further illustrate that at one point the fortunes of the economy and the newspaper market were intrinsically linked it would seem. Now there would seem to have been an uncoupling of this bond – for the worse.    

rate change 2014

 

The table below shows the titles (with a circulation above 20,000) in comparison to last year. Its ranked in percentage terms (the table is sortable – just click on the column heading you want to sort)     

Publication JJ 2014 JJ 2013 Diff ‘000 Diff %
Evening Herald   51,600 58,545 -6,945 -11.86%
Sunday Business Post 34,012 38,293 -4,281 -11.18%
Irish Sunday Mirror 35,467 39,186 -3,719 -9.49%
Irish Daily Star 60,998 66,773 -5,775 -8.65%
Daily Mirror 50,263 54,550 -4,287 -7.86%
Examiner 35,026 37,897 -2,871 -7.58%
Irish Independent 112,383 121,120 -8,737 -7.21%
The Sun 60,711 65,263 -4,552 -6.97%
Sunday Times 91,841 98,328 -6,487 -6.60%
Sunday World 198,260 211,161 -12,901 -6.11%
Mail on Sunday 100,082 105,913 -5,831 -5.51%
Sunday Independent   220,565 232,494 -11,929 -5.13%
Irish Times 80,332 84,201 -3,869 -4.59%
The Sun (Sunday) 55,417 57,618 -2,201 -3.82%
Irish Daily Mail 50,503 51,675 -1,172 -2.27%