The Independent’s circulation holds up after launch of the i

The Independent newspaper has managed to keep its circulation steady month on month, possibly due to a boost in awareness thanks to the launch of sister title the i.

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The Independent, now owned by Alexander Lebedev, saw average net circulation drop 0.2% to 182,412 in October, according to latest ABC figures.

The title has also held up well for the six month period May to October, compared with the same period last year. Its circulation is down 3.61% but this compares to The Times falling 14.4%, The Guardian falling 12.9% and The Daily Telegraph dropping 17.11%.

The publisher launched the i on 18 October and is yet to release an official ABC figure for the newspaper, designed as a digest read and priced at 20p. It’s thought that the publisher is aiming for a combined daily circulation of 400,000 for the two titles.

Among quality titles, only The Financial Times saw a lift month on month, up 2.99% to 401,898. The newspaper recently celebrated a 50% jump in digital subscriptions.

The Times, with its online content now behind a paywall, fell 1.59% month on month to 479,107 while The Guardian dropped 0.61% to 276,428. The Daily Telegraph dropped by a similar percentage to 655,006.

In the mid-market. the Daily Mail fell 0.69% to 2,129,328 million and is down 2.27% for the period, year on year. Rival the Daily Express fared worse with a fall of 2.57% to 642,695 in October and was down 8.34% year on year.

The popular market, supported by widespread coverage of TV show The X Factor, dropped year on year by 4.11%.The Sun, still on price promotion at 20 pence in several regions, continued to fall away from its long-standing benchmark of 3 million plus copies. It dropped 2.36% month on month and 2.9% year on year.

Rival the Daily Mirror actually rose 0.14% month on month to 1,215,081 but fell 6.76% year on year. The Daily Star, lifted for many months by its low price, is now back at full price and dropping swiftly with circulation down 8.19% month on month to 793,487.

The only real bright spot in the Sunday market is the Mail on Sunday, up 3.41% month on month to 2,037,232 but down 4.5% year on year. The only other Sunday title with an increase month on month is the Sunday Mirror, up 0.64% to 1,133,256.

The News of The World, which introduced a paywall for digital content on 14 October, saw circulation fall 4.62% month on month to 2,812,005 and is down 6.31% year on year.

Quality Sunday newspapers all saw a fall with The Observer dropping a hefty 17.6% year on year, closely followed by The Sunday Telegraph, down 15.94%.

Read a profile of Andrew Mullins, managing director of The Evening Standard and The Independent, in next week’s Marketing Week.