Tabloid and mid-market papers see biggest October falls

by Daniel Farey-Jones,, Brand Republic 12-Nov-04, 13:00

LONDON – The latest newspaper ABCs see the quality market holding steady in October as the the mid-market and tabloids show further circulation drops, with the Daily Express suffering the worst monthly fall of 4.69%.

The Daily Express is now down to 915,324 and down 2.89% year-on-year, and its competitor The Daily Mail also saw a monthly fall of 1.14% to 2,415,032 and a year-on-year fall of 1.29%.

Of the tabloids, the Daily Mirror experienced the smallest monthly fall, 1.3% to 1,777,047, but is now down 7.4% year-on-year. The Sun fell 1.75% over the month to 3,278,068 and 4.81% on the year. The Daily Star fell 2.32% to 878,934 and the Daily Record fell 2.84% in monthly terms to 475,608.

In the quality arena, most of the market managed small rises on the previous month with The Independent up 0.55% to 266,038, The Guardian up 0.56% to 378,426, The Daily Telegraph 0.41% to 904,366, and the Financial Times up 0.25% to 438,808.

The Times, in the last month before it went fully compact, showed a fall of 0.67% to 656,462. Scottish papers The Scotsman and The Herald fell 1.15% to 69,626 and 1.43% to 78,910 respectively.

The Evening Standard performed well, up 3.63% on last month to 381,186, but is down 7.81% year-on-year.

Richard Desmond's Sunday titles were also in the doldrums. The Sunday Express dropped 3.59% on the last month to 967,574, and the Daily Star Sunday fell 3.12% to 470,276. Also down was the News of the World, with a 3.05% fall over the month to 3,770,620.

There was good news for the Sunday Mirror, which was up 3.43% to 1,637,847 on last month, and The Mail on Sunday, up 4.28% to 2,437,748.

The Sunday qualities fared less well than their daily counterparts. The Observer is down 2% to 453,018, The Sunday Telegraph 1.87% to 688,758, The Sunday Times 0.67% to 1,360,529. The Independent on Sunday registered a minor increase of 0.06% to 214,323, and The Business performed best with an increase of 2.86% to 214,962.

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