Nationals hit by circulation loss, says latest NRS report
All national newspapers except the Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph and The Times have lost readers over the past year.
The latest National Readership Survey, which surveys the readership habits of the UK adult population to the end of August, shows the national newspaper market as a whole has slipped. This year 56.8 per cent of the adult population read the nationals, compared with 58 per cent in the year to the end of August 1996.
The Daily Mail bucked the trend by increasing its average issue readership by about 300,000 to 5.3 million. Similarly, The Times has about 150,000 more readers per issue, meaning it is now read by 4.2 per cent of the adult population.
The Daily Telegraph continues to be the most read quality daily, and gained 160,000 readers over the period, taking its coverage to 5.8 per cent.
The men’s monthly magazine market continues to power ahead. FHM has increased its readership to 3.9 per cent of the population, compared with 1.7 per cent a year ago, and Loaded’s has jumped from 1.8 per cent to 3.2 per cent. Football title FourFourTwo’s coverage has risen from 1.1 per cent to 1.4 per cent.
However, some more traditional men’s titles have suffered: GQ’s readership has fallen from 860,000 to 760,000.
Women’s weekly titles have been hit over the year, the worst victims being Take a Break, Woman’s Own, Bella and Woman.
Sainsbury’s The Magazine has overtaken Good Housekeeping to become the most read women’s monthly title – read by 9.1 per cent of the population.