Lebedev's i overtakes Indy for the first time

View the National newspaper ABC figures for July 2011

The Audit Bureau of Circulations said today (12 August) the 20p, cut-price title had an average circulation of 183,677 last month – a month-on-month increase of 6%.

Sister title The Independent – now under the editorship of the title’s former deputy editor Chris Blackhurst – reported a headline circulation figure of 182,881, an increase of 3.51% month on month, but down 0.59% year on year.

The Independent also gave away 75,016 copies in the month, helping to inflate its headline circulation, while the i gave away 7,770.

The figures show the i, which launched last year, overtook its sister title for the first time in July.

Across the rest of the daily newspaper market, all papers that were published this time last year suffered year-on-year declines in their circulation.

The Daily Star, the Financial Times, The Times and The Guardian all suffered double-digit, year-on-year declines in circulation.

The Guardian attributed part of its decline to its decision to cease counting international editions in its audited figure, ahead of it ending publication of the edition in October, adding that its paid-for sale was up 12,033 copies on June.

This constituted a 5.1% month-on-month increase and a decline of 2.2% year on year, where its top-line figure detailed a 10.27% year-on-year decline and a 2.93% month-on-month drop.

The Daily Star was the daily with the biggest year-on-year decline in July. It was down 16.18% to an average daily circulation of 706,757.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk