US election fails to boost newspaper sales
The newspaper sector failed to see circulation figures rise in October, despite widespread coverage of the global economic crisis and the US election.
The national quality newspapers in total dropped 0.43% in circulation for October on September to a total of 2,591,513, while the popular titles dropped 2.74% to 5,629,092, according to Audit Bureau of Circulation figures. The mid-market fell 1.83% to 2,926,307.
The only non-specialist quality to see a rise in October was The Guardian, up 1.55% to 354,272 though down 5.05% for the six months April to October year-on-year. Meanwhile, The Financial Times rose by 5.19% rise to 451,676, although it is down 0.89% year-on-year.
The Daily Telegraph dropped 0.95% to 843,196 month-on-month, while The Times fell by 1.33% to 629,561. The Independent, which raised its cover price to £1 in the second half of September, continued to see circulation crash and dropped 9.02% to 201,019.
The popular press also saw poor results with The Sun, which launched an aggressive advertising campaign to promote its 30p cover price at the start of the month, posting a circulation down 3% to 3,060,447. The Daily Mirror fell 1.48% to 1,419,335 and is down a sharp 7.07% for the six months year-on-year.
The Daily Star, which slashed its cover price to 20 pence last week, recorded a circulation drop of 4.72% and is down to 696,893. It will be hoping that the new price will be reflected in the figures for November.
In the mid-market the Daily Mail, under the command of Guy Zitter, recently promoted to managing director of Mail Newspapers, posted a circulation down 2.57% to 2,184,165, while The Daily Express managed a 0.42% rise to 742,142.
The Sunday market proved more resilient with the quality newspapers up in the main. However, The Independent on Sunday suffered a 9.18% to 165,764. All the popular titles tumbled with the News of the World down 3.19% to 3,138,782.
