Sales of nearly all the nationals picked up in January after a dismal December.
The daily popular sector continues to show growth and The Sun under new editor Rebekah Wade has started the year with a bang.
Circulation of The Sun is up 3.8 per cent on January to go back over 3.5 million, 1.5 million copies ahead of the Daily Mirror, and showing a rise of more than 4 per cent on the same six month period a year ago.
The other title boosting the sector is the Daily Star. Its sales are up by nearly a quarter year-on-year and reached 835,343 in January. In the daily quality market things are not so rosy. The whole sector is down 4.8 per cent year-on-year. One reason for the downturn is the decision of The Daily Telegraph to cut back on bulks.
Another factor is falling sales of the Financial Times. Once the star of the daily quality sector as it piled on foreign sales, the FT was down 8.8 per cent compared to December and is showing a fall of 6.5 per cent year on year. The Times also failed to recover from the December doldrums last month, with sales 1 per cent down on January and 5.3 per cent year-on-year.
All the other nationals, with the exception of the Racing Post, Daily Record and Sunday Mail, were up on December.
With Richmond Desmond about to launch his free London newspaper, the Evening Mail, sales of the Evening Standard are in good shape despite a price increase to 45p. The paper was up 6.7 per cent on January, boosted by promotions and free CDs.
Desmond can celebrate monthly rises for all his nationals, including a 15 per cent rise for his recently launched Daily Star Sunday.
By Jon Slattery
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