The Sun bucks falling circulation trend

The Independent has suffered the most far-reaching fall in the month-on-month and year-on-year circulation figures, while The Sun has continued to do well, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABCs) figures in the six months to May.

The Independent saw a 1.19% dip month on month, but was also down 3.4% to 243,435 year-on-year. Meanwhile, The Independent on Sunday fell 10.86% month on month and was down 4.27% year on year to 216,863.

It is also bad news for the Daily Telegraph, which fell by 0.99% month on month and was down by 2.9% year on year to 872,673. This is despite the popularity of its website, which toppled Guardian.co.uk from the top spot according to the latest ABCe figures. The Sunday Telegraph also fell slightly month on month and fell by almost 4% to 628,611 year on year.

Express Newspapers’ Daily Star fell both month on month and year on year to 725,320, while the Daily Star Sunday rose slightly month on month, but fell 2.6% year on year to 365,558. The Daily Mail saw a 1.39% month on month falls to 2.2 million copies in May and it also fell by 0.72% on the year.

The effects of its redesign are yet to have an impact on Sport Media Group’s Daily Sport, which fell 10.54% to 85,043. Similarly, the Sunday Sport fell 3.74% to 82,977.

The Financial Times remained steady, recording slight increases month on month and year on year to 449,295.

The Sun was the only bright spot in a poor period for the tabloids. It saw a 0.55% growth month on month, and a year on year rise to 3.1 million. Meanwhile, its arch rival the Daily Mirror saw a 4.25% drop year-on-year despite a 0.39% increase month-on-month.

But it was bleak news across the Sunday papers with the News of the World failing to record rises in either period, falling 3.8% year on year to 3.2 million. The Sunday Mirror dropped by 3.05% year on year to 1.3 million and the Mail on Sunday fell by 3.5% year on year to 486,360. The Sunday Express slumped by 12.16% year on year to 679,090.