Trinity Mirror’s Sunday titles still exploiting market gap
Sunday tabloids are still seeing a huge year on year circulation increase on the back of The News of the World’s demise, according to latest ABC data.
The bounce for these titles is showing no sign of tailing off, although they are seeing small month on month dips.
Trinity Mirror’s Sunday Mirror is up 37.68% year on year for the six months May to October, with an average net circulation for October of 1,773,627, putting on some 700,000 copies since the axing of the News of The World. Sister title The People is up 35% for the period to 804, 126 for October.
The Daily Star Sunday is also up 56.92% for the six months to 688,058 for October.
News International culled the News of the World in July to try and diffuse the toxicity of the phone hacking scandal. There has been speculation that the publisher is again looking at launching a “Sunday Sun” to fill the gap.
In the daily popular market the Daily Mirror dropped 5.82% for the period year on year and 2.24% month on month. The Sun held up circulation month on month but is down 6.43% year on year and the Daily Star dropped 16.76% year on year and 3.31% month on month. It appears coverage of The X Factor has not really translated into circulation gains for publishers.
Daily quality titles are all falling month on month except for the i, which celebrated its first birthday during October, and the Financial Times. The i jumped 14.68% but sister title The Independent fell 24.6% to 133,449, perhaps indicating cannibalisation by the i is now becoming apparent.
The Guardian introduced a price rise on 19 September, taking its daily edition to £1.20, however circulation is only down 0.87% month on month to 230,541, suggesting the newspaper is down to a loyal core audience. The Daily Telegraph just announced a price rise to £1.20.
In the mid-market both the Daily Mail and the Daily Express held steady, dropping 0.5% month on month.
Sunday quality titles saw limited falls except for the Independent on Sunday, which crashed 15.5% month on month to 130,942. The Sunday Telegraph was the next biggest faller, down 2.03% to 471,894.
The Mail on Sunday actually jumped 1.04%, back to over two million month on month and is up 3.4% year on year. Likewise the Sunday Express also rose 11.48% year on year, suggesting both titles are also picking up some News of the World readers.
Many publishers have ceased printing overseas editions and have stripped out bulks, all of which contribute to a decline in print circulation.
