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July 15, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 4:08pm

June: Times closing in on Telegraph

By Press Gazette

Dominic Ponsford
The tabloid Times is
catching up with the Daily Telegraph in the circulation race and is now
almost within 200,000 sales of the market leader, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation figures for June.
While the Daily Telegraph’s sale for June held
more or less steady year-on-year at 903,772, The Times was the top
performing title in the whole national newspaper market – up 3.35 per
cent year-on-year to 683,495.
The Times is now comfortably ahead of the
Telegraph on UK full-price sales at 510,572 versus 488,393.
The
Guardian’s promised autumn relaunch in Berliner format evidently can’t
come soon enough, it was the worst performing quality paper by a large
margin in June – down 6.99 per cent year-on-year to 361,408.
All the red-tops are down year-on-year and the Daily Star, which a year
ago looked set to be charging headlong towards a million sales, has
dropped back down to 855,612.
Richard Desmond’s other national titles have also
seen a sharp decline in fortunes. The Sunday Express appears to be
feeling the effects of having its S:2 glossy supplement axed in March.
Before the closure of S:2 the Sunday Express was showing healthy
year-on-year sales rises but last month it was 7.04 per cent down
year-on-year to 931,608.
Another title which appears to be feeling the
effects of editorial cutbacks is national sports weekly Football First
which has dropped a dramatic 30.25 per cent year-on-year to 14,289.
Five years ago the title was selling nearly 90,000.
Paid-for sales of the Evening Standard were
sharply down again following the launch of a free Lite lunch-time
edition, dropping 12.19 per cent year-on-year to 332,524. But when the
76,831
distribution of Standard Lite is taken into account, Associated
Newspapers is able to argue that sales may be down but readership is up.
UK national newspapers circulation for June 2005
Current month Last Month mth/mth Last Year Yr/Yr
Jun 05 May 05 +/- % Jun 04 +/- %
National morning popular
Daily Mirror 1,742,378 1,780,554 -2.14 1,833,980 -4.99
Daily Record 462,472 467,857 -1.15 491,685 -5.94
Daily Star 855,612 863,083 -0.87 890,810 -3.95
The Sun 3,230,652 3,230,332 0.01 3,348,320 -3.51
Total of average daily net
circulation
6,291,114 6,341,826 -0.80 6,564,795 -4.17
National morning mid market
Daily Express 893,184 898,396 -0.58 957,876 -6.75
The Daily Mail 2,350,012 2,359,003 -0.38 2,405,499 -2.31
Total of average daily net
circulation
3,243,196 3,257,399 -0.44 3,363,375 -3.57
National morning quality
The Daily Telegraph 903,772 915,711 -1.30 906,098 -0.26
Financial Times 425,984 431,287 -1.23 427,203 -0.29
The Herald 76,774 80,268 -4.35 N/A
The Guardian 361,408 372,562 -2.99 388,584 -6.99
The Independent 262,124 263,043 -0.35 261,575 0.21
The Scotsman 67,743 68,849 -1.61 67,645 0.14
The Times 683,495 684,695 -0.18 661,330 3.35
Total of average daily net
circulation
2,781,300 2,816,415 -1.25 2,712,435 2.54
Overall total of average daily net
circulation
12,315,610 12,415,640 -0.81 12,640,605 -2.57
National morning sporting
Racing Post 84,147 80,025 5.15 87,938 -4.31
London evening
Evening Standard 332,524 348,892 -4.69 378,681 -12.19
National weekly sporting
Football First 14,289 16,486 -13.33 20,486 -30.25
National morning group
The Daily Mirror / Daily Record 2,204,850 2,248,411 -1.94 2,325,665 -5.19
National Sunday popular
Daily Star Sunday 420,905 420,739 0.04 500,441 -15.89
News of the World 3,563,073 3,653,168 -2.47 3,735,839 -4.62
Sunday Mail 553,894 557,361 -0.62 584,069 -5.17
Sunday Mirror 1,485,485 1,545,789 -3.90 1,524,560 -2.56
The People 913,618 932,200 -1.99 1,004,480 -9.05
Sunday Sport 154,317 159,193 -3.06 151,486 1.87
Total of average Sunday net
circulation
7,091,292 7,268,450 -2.44 7,500,875 -5.46
National Sunday mid market
Sunday Express 931,608 919,416 1.33 1,002,145 -7.04
The Mail on Sunday 2,253,480 2,253,176 0.01 2,273,213 -0.87
Total of average Sunday net
circulation
3,185,088 3,172,592 0.39 3,275,358 -2.76
National Sunday quality
Independent on Sunday 206,007 206,607 -0.29 210,015 -1.91
The Business 195,912 195,533 0.19 218,126 -10.18
The Observer 441,187 441,802 -0.14 460,239 -4.14
Scotland on Sunday 82,124 82,334 -0.26 82,727 -0.73
Sunday Herald 56,573 58,231 -2.85 N/A
The Sunday Telegraph 674,531 666,031 1.28 697,655 -3.31
The Sunday Times 1,325,292 1,349,943 -1.83 1,344,326 -1.42
Total of average Sunday net
circulation
2,981,626 3,000,481 -0.63 3,013,088 -1.04
Overall total of average Sunday net
circulation
13,258,006 13,441,523 -1.37 13,789,321 -3.85

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