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June 14, 2018updated 25 Jul 2018 11:25am

National newspaper ABCs: Industry-wide circulation decline continues as Metro and Sun top the table

By Charlotte Tobitt

The Metro has climbed ahead of the Sun’s print circulation for the second time as an industry-wide decline in national newspapers continues, according to the latest ABC figures.

The free newspaper distributed 1,476,169 copies in May, down 0.24 per cent – the smallest fall of any national title.

The Sun fell 6.49 per cent to a circulation of 1,473,773. Its website has grown by 11.68 to 5,511,648 daily average unique browsers.

The Daily Mail remains in third place, with a circulation of 1,277,409 after a year-on-year drop of 11.49 per cent. Britain’s top-selling mid-market newspaper opted to stop selling bulks from January this year. It sold 65,000 bulks in May 2017.

A Daily Mail spokesperson told Press Gazette that comparing like-for-like without bulks, the newspaper’s circulation decline would be 7.5 per cent year-on-year.

Roland Agambar, chief marketing officer at Mail Newspapers, said: “The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday’s high-quality editorial content supported by a leading marketing and loyalty programme continues to attract loyal readers, so it’s no surprise that they continue to outperform the market and put more money into retailers’ tills than any of their competitor titles.”

The Telegraph has once again seen its circulation drop by a fifth year-on-year – the biggest fall of any national newspaper – to 376,650, but attributes this to its own decision to end bulk sales in January.

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UK national newspaper print circulation figures for May 2018 (source: ABC):

Publication Total circulation May 2018 Year-on-year % change Bulks
Metro FREE 1,476,169 -0.24
The Sun 1,473,773 -6.49 117,701
Daily Mail 1,277,409 -11.49
The Sun on Sunday 1,272,592 -5.58 118,217
The Mail on Sunday 1,110,637 -10.42
London Evening Standard FREE 895,329 -0.89
The Sunday Times 772,509 -3.79 84,450
Daily Mirror 564,251 -12.68
Sunday Mirror 492,435 -12.53
The Times 431,053 -5.66 90,960
The Daily Telegraph 376,650 -21.41
Daily Star 370,640 -13.68
Daily Express 340,613 -10.77
Sunday Express 314,985 -6.01
The Sunday Telegraph 303,416 -14.65
i 251,793 -5.73 59,784
Daily Star – Sunday 223,741 -9.82
Sunday People 191,318 -14.55
Financial Times 181,311 -7.1 30,013
The Observer 170,775 -3.88
The Guardian 140,778 -8.09
Sunday Mail 135,197 -14.07
Daily Record 129,151 -12.49
Sunday Post 116,986 -14.23 538
City AM FREE 87,170 -4.1

UK news websites daily average unique browsers (source: ABC):

Website Daily Avg. Unique Browsers (May 2018) Year-on-year % change
Mail Online 12,846,752 -16.39
Trinity Mirror Group – Digital 8,652,070 -13.11
The Sun 5,511,648 11.68
Metro 1,804,194 -20.63

Picture: Reuters/Luke MacGregor 

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