Regional newspaper sales figures show widespread falls

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 03-Mar-06, 11:00

LONDON – Regional dailies all recorded sales declines in the second half of 2005, with the Birmingham Mail close to a double-digit fall, according to the latest ABC circulation figures.

The Trinity Mirror-owned evening title was down 9.8% on the previous six months, to a Monday-Friday circulation of 85,074.

Among the other big-selling evening titles, the Liverpool Echo, also owned by Trinity Mirror, fell 5% to 123,584; the Manchester Evening News, owned by Guardian Media Group, fell 7.2% to 133,801; and Newsquest's Glasgow Evening Times was down by 4.3% to 88,159.

Their predicament was shared by the morning titles, including Johnston Press' Yorkshire Post, which dropped 4.3% to 48,345. Northcliffe Newspapers' Western Daily Press was down 2.2% to 44,128 and Archant's Eastern Daily Press fell 1.7% to 67,441.

The Newspaper Society, the regional publishers' trade body, said its members were investing in new platforms and now have more than 400 standalone magazines and niche publications, more than 500 websites, at least 21 radio stations and two television stations.

In January, it set up a working group to look at how to measure audiences across multiple media platforms. Measurement bodies ABC and Jicreg are represented on the group and it is chaired by Mark Rix, the managing director of Manchester Evening News.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the Forum.