The Sun shines in newspaper ABCs
Britain’s tabloids were the only newspaper sector to post overall growth in circulation in April, led by News International’s The Sun, according to ABC figures released today.
The red top, still the country’s biggest selling paper by almost one million copies, saw a 1.16 per cent hike in circulation month-on-month to 3,131,919.
It translates to a 0.65 per cent rise in average circulation for the past six months, which although slight is still the best performance of any national newspaper.
The Sun will celebrate today’s rise in a largely falling marketplace, although it has yet to see if growth can be sustained once its price promotions in the south east come to an end this month.
Elsewhere, a collection of Alan Partridge DVD promotions was not enough to prevent rival Daily Mirror losing some 16,000 copies in April. The Daily Star was up 1.11 per cent to 730,244 and Daily Record up 1.12 per cent to 396190.
Total average daily circulation in the quality newspapers fell 0.96 per cent, led by a near 2 per cent fall for The Guardian (351,031), despite a series of A5 guides ranging from growing your own vegetables to breakfasts.
The Independent, in the midst of a number of senior personnel changes that includes a new editorship, saw circulations fall again, down -1.29 per cent to 243,398. This equates to some 9,000 fewer copies since February and a -4.37 fall in average circulation for the past six months.
Meanwhile, The Times dropped 4,000 copies (-0.65 per cent) to 618,160 and The Daily Telegraph was down by 3,500 (-0.29 per cent) to 871,598.
The Financial Times posted its first circulation fall of the year, losing any gains it made in March by dropping -1.47 per cent to 448,241.
A Margaret Thatcher DVD collection buoyed circulation at The Daily Telegraph, the best performer in the sector with a drop of just -0.29 per cent to 871,598.
In the mid-market battle, The Daily Mail posted a 0.7 per cent rise to 2,324,428 copies despite raising its cover price from 45p to 50p in April. Meanwhile, circulation at the 40p The Daily Express fell 0.63 per cent to 727,180 copies.
In the quality Sundays, The Sunday Telegraph (636,719) and the Independent on Sunday (225,403) both recovered most of the copies they dropped in March, up 1.79 per cent and 1.67 per cent respectively. The biggest faller in the main nationals was The Observer; its 'Grow your own fruit' and 'Science' series.could not prevent a 2.11 per cent dip to 452,009.
Arif Durrani is news editor of mad.co.uk.
