14 Mar 2000 |

National Newspaper ABC Round-Up – February 2000

Month On Month

Monthly national newspaper circulation figures for February, released by the ABC this week, show a fairly solid performance from the News International titles. The Sun, Times, Sunday Times and News Of The World all show improving sales when compared to January’s figures.

Elsewhere, the Financial Times continues to grow its circulation base, up 3.2% month on month. The largest fall in sales came from the Sunday tabloids, with the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People each shedding over 50,000 in sales.

National Newspaper February 2000 ABC Monthly Comparisons
Title	Jan-00	Feb-00	Actual Change	% Change
Daily Mail	2,353,915	2,401,264	47,379	2.0
Daily Record	626,646	625,820	-826	-0.1
Daily Star	502,647	506,799	4,152	0.8
Daily Telegraph	1,040,931	1,028,965	-11,966	-1.1
Express	1,050,846	1,042,191	-8,655	-0.8
Financial Times	435,378	449,151	13,773	3.2
Guardian	401,560	399,167	-2,393	-0.6
Independent	222,106	222,544	438	0.2
Independent On Sunday	248,630	249,094	464	0.2
Mail On Sunday	2,323,720	2,359,425	35,705	1.5
Mirror	2,270,543	2,269,697	-846	-0.0
News Of The World	4,139,793	4,154,972	15,179	0.4
Observer	416,460	415,419	-1,041	-0.2
Racing Post	71,019	72,461	1,442	2.0
Sport First	85,223	89,961	4,738	5.6
Sun	3,557,336	3,592,423	35,087	1.0
Sunday Business	70,369	75,371	5,002	7.1
Sunday Express	974,310	974,865	555	0.1
Sunday Mirror	2,008,961	1,953,617	-55,344	-2.8
Sunday People	1,613,113	1,561,276	-51,837	-3.2
Sunday Sport	209,985	198,814	-11,171	-5.3
Sunday Telegraph	815,093	820,776	5,683	0.7
Sunday Times	1,373,900	1,385,679	11,779	0.9
Times	726,349	729,140	2,791	0.4
Total	27,612,806	27,578,891	-33,915	-0.1

Year On Year

Quality Market The Financial Times continues to carry the broadsheet sector in this audit, with circulation increasing by 14.8% or 55,580 copies. The Times and Sunday Times, despite looking healthy in the monthly figures, are not doing so well when compared year on year. The Times dropped more than 25,000 copies and the Sunday Times almost 10,000.

Quality Market Sep ’99-Feb ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons
Title	Sep 98 – Feb 99	Sep 99 – Feb 00	Actual Change	% Change
Daily Telegraph	1,046,888	1,033,987	-12,901	-1.2
Financial Times	376,635	432,485	55,850	14.8
Guardian	396,433	397,830	1,397	0.4
Independent	220,911	224,609	3,698	1.7
Independent On Sunday	253,527	251,133	-2,394	-0.9
Observer	405,362	413,489	8,127	2.0
Sunday Business	n/a	64,858	n/a	n/a
Sunday Telegraph	822,014	822,124	110	0.0
Sunday Times	1,373,529	1,363,969	-9,560	-0.7
Times	753,701	727,901	-25,800	-3.4
Total	5,649,000	5,732,385	83,385	1.5

Mid Market The Mail On Sunday has started to flounder a little, upsetting the two Mail titles’ long-running dominance of the mid-market newspapers. However, the two Express papers continue to shed sales at a greater rate and the Daily Mail is still performing strongly.

Mid Market Sep ’99-Feb ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons
Title	Sep 98 – Feb 99	Sep 99 – Feb 00	Actual Change	% Change
Daily Mail	2,355,596	2,370,731	15,135	0.6
Express	1,105,594	1,047,355	-58,239	-5.3
Mail On Sunday	2,340,839	2,321,188	-19,651	-0.8
Sunday Express	1,014,170	972,395	-41,775	-4.1
Total	6,816,199	6,723,323	-92,876	-1.4

Popular Market The popular tabloids continue to take a hammering with all but the specialist Racing Post showing declining circulations year on year. Most significant of these are the News Of The World, Sun and Sunday People, which all saw sales plummet by more than 110,000 copies.

Popular Market Aug-Jan ’00 ABC YoY Comparisons
Title	Sep 98 – Feb 99	Sep 99 – Feb 00	Actual Change	% Change
Daily Record	679,211	634,026	-45,185	-6.7
Daily Star	545,515	513,882	-31,633	-5.8
Mirror	2,310,094	2,280,244	-29,850	-1.3
News Of The World	4,244,920	4,102,787	-142,133	-3.3
Racing Post	71,042	72,881	1,839	2.6
Sport First	n/a	91,847	n/a	n/a
Sun	3,680,980	3,568,695	-112,285	-3.1
Sunday Mirror	1,994,983	1,980,646	-14,337	-0.7
Sunday People	1,699,450	1,572,980	-126,470	-7.4
Total	15,226,195	14,817,988	-408,207	-2.7