Industry News

ABCs: UK Sunday newspaper circulation review – September 2009

News International’s title provided some of the best results among the Sunday newspapers, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures recently released.

The Sunday Times outperformed all if its quality rivals, to record the smallest loss in circulation in its sector to post 1,207,141 copies through September, a 1.17% drop year-on-year.

Its stable-mate and top-selling title, the News of the World, was the only Sunday red-top title to see its circulation rise from last month. The Sunday tabloid recorded 3,129,162 a 0.26% month-on-month rise, 3.48% down from last year.

Elsewhere in the red-top market, Trinity Mirror’s Sunday titles recorded some of the biggest falls in circulation last month.

Trinity’s Scottish Sunday title was the biggest loser, the Sunday Mail fell 11.7% to 413,906 copies, while The People fell 9.86% to 563,877. Trinity’s flagship title, the Sunday Mirror, posted a fall 7.16% year-on-year to 1,221,676 copies.

Northern & Shell’s red-top, Daily Star Sunday, was the only Sunday title to increase its circulation year-on-year. Richard Desmond’s title was up 0.61% to 384,575 copies.

Following the Sunday Times strong performance in the quality sector, the Sunday Telegraph also performed relatively well through September, dropping 3.58% year-on-year to record 599,380 copies.

The biggest faller in the sector was Guardian News & Media’s The Observer recording another disappointing month, dropping 14.89% year-on-year to 156,433 copies. Independent News & Media suffered another big circulation loss to its title, The Independent, losing 14.29% to 385,617 copies.

Finally, in the mid-market sector the Mail in Sunday fell 10.11% in circulation to 2,012,741 copies. The Sunday Express dropped 5.5% to average 619,032 copies in September.