'Express Titles Hit...', Sky News Online

Monday, March 10, 2008

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Express Titles Hit By Plummeting Sales, by James Silver, Media reporter.

The Express group titles were among the biggest losers in the latest ABC national newspaper circulation figures.

Amid a flurry of sales falls, The Sun, The Financial Times and The Observer were the only newspapers to add readers in February's results.

In marked contrast to its successful magazine division, Northern & Shell's Sunday Express plunged 17.17% year-on-year to 676,165 and its sister title, the Daily Express also shed 3.28% of its readers over the same period.

Stable-mates The Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday lost 7.08% and 4.57% respectively since February 2007.

Associated Newspapers' far better-resourced titles continue to dominate the mid-market.

The Daily Mail lost 1.92% year-on-year, posting a circulation of 2,294,880 and the Mail on Sunday lost 2.67%, with an average February sale of 2,203,642. However, both newspapers were shored up by over 100,000 'bulk sales' or giveaways.

In the mass-market The Sun sold an average of 3,077,060 last month, keeping it above the crucial 3 million mark, with a year-on-year increase of 0.15%.

The Daily Mirror, meanwhile, continued its inexorable decline, slumping 4% since February 2007, posting a circulation of 1,500,543.

In the quality end of the market, the Financial Times was the only daily newspaper to grow, with a circulation of 448,342.

The Times shed 4.61% of its readers year-on-year, while The Daily Telegraph, which only a few years ago was selling over a million copies a day, lost 3.32%, giving it a circulation of 866,693, of which nearly 100,000 were giveaways.

The Guardian declined by 2.43% to 355,634, while The Independent's future continues to look precarious with a circulation of 252,435 including 40,000 bulks.

The Sunday 'red-top' market looks to be in terminal decline.

Trinity Mirror's The People is in particularly bad shape, shedding 12.35% year-on-year, with a circulation of 653,909. At this rate, it will soon be overtaken by The Sunday Telegraph. The result also begs the question how much longer it can be commercially viable.

Sister-title The Sunday Mirror appears to have stabilized on 1,348,395, while the News of the World lost 2.67% year-on-year, although it easily remains Britain's best-selling newspaper with 3,281,287.

Of the quality Sunday titles, The Observer's was the standout performance. In new editor John Mulholland's second month in charge, the paper grew by nearly 5% year-on-year, to 464,005. It was buoyed by giveaways including a DVD and a TV advertising campaign.

The Sunday Telegraph lost 5.17% year-on-year, while The Sunday Times and The Independent on Sunday remain the strongest and the weakest - by far, in both cases - in the sector.

Elsewhere, the London Evening Standard's circulation appears to have settled down, amid the capital's commuter free-sheet war. The Associated title rose 8.3% year-on-year to 288,157, around a third of which were bulks.

Sister-title, London Lite gave away just over 400,000 copies daily last month, while News International's thelondonpaper squeezed over the half a million mark.

:: You can read more articles by James Silver at www.jamessilver.net

Posted by James Silver - On Monday, March 10, 2008

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