ABC National Newspaper Round-Up October 2002

The latest ABC figures for national newspaper circulation during October reveal a rather lacklustre performance for the sector as a whole, which saw circulation decline by 1.8% month on month to just below the 27 million mark.

Popular Sunday titles, Sport First and People, bore the brunt of the bad news, with the former experiencing a 13.6% decline in circulation and the latter slipping by 7.6% to 1.2 million, despite Trinity Mirror’s recent multi-million investment in the title’s rebrand.

Elsewhere, coverprice rises in the broadsheet sector and price wars in the tabloid market weighed heavily on the daily titles. Richard Desmond’s Star was one of the only national daily titles to see circulation improve, with a 0.5% month on month increase to just below 750,000. The Daily Telegraph and the Sun fared less well, with the former seeing circulation slip by 2.3% month on month and the latter declining by 3.2% during October.

At the other end of the scale, the Observer experienced the most significant increase in percentage terms, with its circulation improving by 5.8% month on month to 488,718. This was closely followed by The Business, which improved by 3.5% during October to just below 90,000.

Quality Market

Overall the size of the quality market dipped by 1.8% during October with coverprice rises appearing to have a detrimental effect on circulation. The Daily Telegraph, which was among the first broadsheets to up its price, slipped by 2.6% year on year to just below the million mark. The Independent followed suit with a 2.4% drop to 225,026, whilst the Times, which was the last to raise its coverprice, saw circulation fall by 3.5% during October.

The Business and the Sunday Times were the only quality titles to see circulation improve during October. The former rose by a notable 51.7% year on year, while the latter saw circulation rise by 0.4%.

Mid-Market

The Express titles continued to do well in the mid-market during October, with the Daily Express recording a 2.4% year on year increase in circulation and its Sunday sibling improving by 8.8%. The Daily Mail fared less well with a 1.8% decline to 2,432,924, followed by the Mail On Sunday, which slipped by 0.7% during October.

Popular Market

Among the tabloids, the Sun continued to prosper during October with a 3.1% year on year increase in circulation to around 3.6 million. In comparison, the Mirror experienced a 4.8% decline during the same period to just over 2.1 million.

Elsewhere in the popular market, the Daily Star continued its positive streak with a 16.4% year on year increase to 722,653. The Racing Post also performed well with circulation improving by 4.1% during the same period.

Subscribers can access the Press database by selecting “Press” from the drop-down box at the top of this page.