NEWSPAPER ABCs: Independent on Sunday jumps 9% month on month

Independent editor-in-chief Simon Kelner cited successful election coverage and said that the staff at the Independent on Sunday were extremely pleased with the result.

The title also improved its year-on-year standing with a 1.9% rise from April 2009.

Other winners in the month before the general election included the The Sunday Times, up 2.1% from 1,111,660 in March to 1,135,077, although still with a year-on-year deficit of 7.1%.

Those showing little or no movement included the embattled Observer which, despite a recent revamp, sputtered up 0.1% month-on-month to 331,791 copies and The Sunday Telegraph, also up by 0.1% to 510,146.

The Observer also failed to stop a crushing year-on-year decline of 21.3%, the largest annual fall of any of the Sunday newspapers.

The Sunday Telegraph had a double-digit decline of 10.8% of year-on-year.

Among the red-tops the Daily Star Sunday achieved the biggest March to April rise, up 1.9% to 348,188 copies, but was down 2.6% year-on-year.

The News of the World was virtually flat month-on-month, shifting 2,905,780 copies during April, and witnessed an annual decline of 1%.

Its key rival the Sunday Mirror dropped 2% month on month to 1,124,080 copies, and The People showed a decline of 0.4% to a circulation figure of 530,117.

The Sunday Mirror crashed 7.6% year-on-year and The People fared no better with an 8.3% annual decline.

The mid market also only saw marginal rises with The Mail on Sunday taking the lead, up 1.6% to 1,983,283 copies, while the Sunday Express rose 0.8% to 574,323.

The two titles were down 4.4% and 9.9% respectively year-on-year.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk