Daily Mail ups cover price to counter ad revenue drop

Associated parent DMGT revealed the price hike in a trading update this morning. It said June ad revenues were down 9%, unsurprising as the World Cup took place in the same month last year.

The outlook is uncertain, according to DMGT, but it said the comparatives for July to September were less challenging.

The Daily Mail price rise was also put down to the "continuing high cost of newsprint", a factor highlighted by a number of other newspaper publishers. This year regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press set itself a £10m cost savings target to offset higher newsprint expense.

Daily Mail readers will find their paper 5p more expensive from Monday (18 July), but the price of Saturday edition and the Mail on Sunday will not change.

The Daily Mail's May circulation was 2,056,811 copies, according to ABC figures.

The Daily Express currently sells for 45p while The Sun sells for 30p though it is promoted down to 25p in some regions including London.

Newsprint costs are also likely to be impacting the profitability of free newspaper Metro, of which Associated distributes in the region of 1,350,000 copies each weekday.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk