NRS National Newspaper Round-Up: July – December 2007
Daily Newspaper Market
Britain’s national daily newspapers reported an overall decline in readership of almost 2% year on year for the last six months of 2007.
All dailies, with the exception of the Daily Mail and the Sun, saw a fall in readership, according to the latest NRS data, with the Guardian and the Daily Star reporting downturns of over 200,000 readers each year on year.
The Daily Mail saw a 1.2% upturn year on year, taking its readership to 5.4 million, whilst the Sun‘s now stands at just over eight million, following a rise of over 5.5% year on year for the period.
Quality Daily Titles
All titles in the Quality daily sector reported a fall in readership for the period, with the Guardian the hardest hit.
The paper saw a 16% downturn in readership year on year, taking its final figure to just over 1.1 million.
However, its online incarnation remains the most visited national newspaper website with 17.5 million unique users for December (see Guardian Unlimited Records Traffic Downturn But Remains Top Newspaper Site).
In September, the price of the weekday and Saturday editions of the Guardian increased by 10p, with the Saturday edition now selling at £1.50, whilst the weekday paper will sell for 80p (see Guardian Cover Price Increases).
The Daily Telegraph also reported a significant decline in readers for the period, of 185,000, taking its total to around 2.1 million for the period.
Meanwhile, both the Independent and the Times (which also raised its price in September), suffered declines. The Independent lost almost 60,000 readers year on year for the period – taking its final figure to around 700,000 – whilst the Times shed over 70,000, taking its total to over 1.6 million.
Mid-Market Daily Titles
The Daily Express shed around 30,000 readers year on year for the last six months of 2007, bringing its total readership to over 1.6 million.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail managed to attract more readers year on year for the period, bolstering its NRS figure by 1.2% to around 5.4 million.
Popular Daily Titles
All Popular dailies, with the exception of the Sun, lost readers in the period.
The Sun, which cut its price from 35p to 20p in London and the south-east in August (see The Sun Gets South-East Price Cut), added 425,000 new readers year on year, taking its total to over eight million for the final half of last year.
Meanwhile, the Daily Star and the Daily Mirror were hard hit. The Star shed almost 210,000 from its total, which now stands at around 1.4 million, whilst the Mirror lost around 180,000, taking it short of 3.8 million.
The Daily Record also reported a decline – of 2.2% – bringing its final figure down to over 1.2 million.
London Free Papers
The London evening freesheets, thelondonpaper and the London Lite released their third set of NRS figures today, with thelondonpaper increasing its lead over its rival by 10,000 readers.
thelondonpaper‘s readership stands at 914,000, while the London Lite‘s is 904,000.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Jul 07- Dec 07 | ||||
| Daily Titles | Jul 06-Dec 06 | Jul 07-Dec 07 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Daily Telegraph | 2,292,000 | 2,107,000 | -185,000 | -8.1 |
| Guardian | 1,324,000 | 1,114,000 | -210,000 | -15.9 |
| Independent | 756,000 | 699,000 | -57,000 | -7.5 |
| Times | 1,699,000 | 1,627,000 | -72,000 | -4.2 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Daily Express | 1,679,000 | 1,648,000 | -31,000 | -1.8 |
| Daily Mail | 5,343,000 | 5,408,000 | 65,000 | 1.2 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Mirror | 3,954,000 | 3,773,000 | -181,000 | -4.6 |
| Daily Record | 1,248,000 | 1,221,000 | -27,000 | -2.2 |
| Daily Star | 1,616,000 | 1,408,000 | -208,000 | -12.9 |
| Sun | 7,626,000 | 8,051,000 | 425,000 | 5.6 |
| Total Daily | 27,537,000 | 27,056,000 | -481,000 | -1.7 |
Sunday Newspaper Market
The Sunday newspaper market was down by around 5.5% overall in the six-month period to December 2007, a real term decline of over 1.7 million readers.
There was a relatively large decline for the Sunday Times in the Quality Sunday sector, of almost 16.5% year on year.
Of the Popular Sundays, the Daily Star Sunday and the People also suffered, down by nearly 150,000 readers each year on year for the period.
Quality Sunday Titles
The Sunday Times now has a readership figure of around three million following a year on year downturn of almost 600,000 readers for the period.
It was a tough period for the Sunday Telegraph as well. It saw its readership drop almost 10% year on year, to over 1.7 million.
In September, the paper lost editor Patience Wheatcroft, who resigned after just 18 months in the job (see Wheatcroft Resigns As Sunday Telegraph Editor).
Wheatcroft was replaced by Ian MacGregor, the Daily Telegraph‘s deputy editor.
There were also reasonably large declines for the Independent On Sunday and the Observer , of more than 13.5% and around 10.5% respectively.
The Independent On Sunday now has a total figure of around 760,000 readers, while the Observer has a total of almost 1.3 million.
Mid-Market Sunday Titles
In the Mid-Market, The Mail On Sunday remained relatively static year on year, at just under six million readers, following a decline of 5,000 readers for the period.
In December it was revealed that the Mail On Sunday would be getting a revamp for the New Year, including a full colour makeover and splitting the title into two main sections (see Revamp Planned For Mail On Sunday).
The paper also had a big sales boost in July when it gave away free copies of Prince’s latest CD (see ABC National Newspaper Round-Up: July 2007).
The Sunday Express now has just over 1.8 million readers after a fall of over 11.5%.
Popular Sunday Titles
The News of the World was down by less than 1% year on year for the period to December, leaving its total at around 8.2 million readers.
The Sunday Mirror was down 2% to around 4.1 million for the second half of last year.
The People, meanwhile, shed almost 150,000 readers, leaving its total figure at just over 1.6 million.
The Daily Star Sunday shed a similar amount of readers, taking its total to almost 910,000 after a year on year fall of almost 15%.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – Jul 07- Dec 07 | ||||
| Sunday Titles | Jul 06-Dec 06 | Jul 07-Dec 07 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Quality | ||||
| Independent On Sunday | 882,000 | 761,000 | -121,000 | -13.7 |
| Observer | 1,445,000 | 1,294,000 | -151,000 | -10.4 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,958,000 | 1,769,000 | -189,000 | -9.7 |
| Sunday Times | 3,648,000 | 3,052,000 | -596,000 | -16.3 |
| Mid Market | ||||
| Mail On Sunday | 6,001,000 | 5,996,000 | -5,000 | -0.1 |
| Sunday Express | 2,049,000 | 1,810,000 | -239,000 | -11.7 |
| Popular | ||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 1,057,000 | 909,000 | -148,000 | -14.0 |
| News Of The World | 8,274,000 | 8,203,000 | -71,000 | -0.9 |
| People | 1,763,000 | 1,614,000 | -149,000 | -8.5 |
| Sunday Mirror | 4,186,000 | 4,106,000 | -80,000 | -1.9 |
| Total Sunday | 31,263,000 | 29,514,000 | -1,749,000 | -5.6 |
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