NRS National Newspaper Round-Up – September 2003
The latest NRS figures for national newspaper readership revealed continued weakness at prestige pink paper the Financial Times. In spite of its recent £2 million advertising campaign, the paper experienced a sharp 33% year on year decline in readership to 391,000.
In fact September’s NRS figures brought bad news for almost all titles, with both broadsheets and tabloids suffering from year on year declines.
In the broadsheet market the Daily Telegraph continued to fall, despite its recent high profile ‘read a bestseller everyday’ ad campaign. The future direction of the paper has been the source of intense debate following the end of Charles Moore’s tenure as editor.
The Sunday Telegraph was also hit by the September slump, with readership dropping by 6.9% year on year to 1,901,000.
Elsewhere, The Times also felt the brunt of the decline. The title dropped by 7% year on year to 1,711,000. The Sunday Times also suffered, dropping 4.8% year on year to just over 3.3 million.
Associated Newspapers also had little to smile about. Its Daily Mail paper declined by 3.5% year on year to 5,723,000. Meanwhile, the Mail On Sunday, which has recently hit the headlines for its coverage of the Prince Charles scandal, fell by 0.9% year on year to 5,833,000.
The Guardian also suffered from September’s declines, dropping 9% year on year to 1,223,000. Its sister title the Observer fell by 6.8% to just over 1.1 million.
One bright spot in the otherwise gloomy broadsheet market was provided by the Independent On Sunday, which rose by 17.7% year on year to 543,000. However, the Independent, which recently launched a tabloid edition, declined 8.9% year on year.
The tabloid sector also shed readership rapidly during September. Even the Daily Star, which has previously been rising continually with its dedication to a traditional tabloid formula based on celebrity title tattle, declined. The paper dipped by 4.7% year on year to 1,681,000.
Elsewhere the Daily Mirror, which has undergone a series of management changes following the appointment of Sly Bailey as chief executive of Trinity Mirror, also declined. The paper fell 13.1% year on year to just over 4.6 million, despite a return to more celebrity focused editorial. The Sun also slipped 5.8% year on year to over 8.9 million.
| National Newspaper NRS Figures – September 2003 | ||||
| Title | Apr- Sep 02 | Apr – Sep 03 | Actual Change | % Change |
| Daily Express | 2,177,000 | 2,043,000 | -134,000 | -6.2 |
| Daily Mail | 5,933,000 | 5,723,000 | -210,000 | -3.5 |
| Daily Mirror | 5,313,000 | 4,618,000 | -695,000 | -13.1 |
| Daily Record | 1,539,000 | 1,421,000 | -118,000 | -7.7 |
| Daily Star | 1,763,000 | 1,681,000 | -82,000 | -4.7 |
| Daily Star Sunday | n/a | 1,077,000 | n/a | n/a |
| Daily Telegraph | 2,317,000 | 2,089,000 | -228,000 | -9.8 |
| Financial Times | 584,000 | 391,000 | -193,000 | -33.0 |
| Guardian | 1,344,000 | 1,223,000 | -121,000 | -9.0 |
| Independent | 596,000 | 543,000 | -53,000 | -8.9 |
| Independent On Sunday | 598,000 | 704,000 | 106,000 | 17.7 |
| Mail On Sunday | 5,888,000 | 5,833,000 | -55,000 | -0.9 |
| News Of The World | 9,750,000 | 9,430,000 | -320,000 | -3.3 |
| Observer | 1,213,000 | 1,130,000 | -83,000 | -6.8 |
| People | 2,974,000 | 2,465,000 | -509,000 | -17.1 |
| Sun | 9,508,000 | 8,957,000 | -551,000 | -5.8 |
| Sunday Express | 2,125,000 | 2,388,000 | 263,000 | 12.4 |
| Sunday Mirror | 5,340,000 | 4,782,000 | -558,000 | -10.4 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,042,000 | 1,901,000 | -141,000 | -6.9 |
| Sunday Times | 3,475,000 | 3,307,000 | -168,000 | -4.8 |
| Times | 1,840,000 | 1,711,000 | -129,000 | -7.0 |
| Total | 66,319,000 | 63,417,000 | -2,902,000 | -4.4 |
