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October 14, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 5:11pm

September: Guardian claims highest sale in its 184-year-history

By Press Gazette

By Dominic Ponsford

The Guardian’s relaunch as Britain’s first Berliner size national
newspaper has put it back above 400,000 sales for the first time since
December 2003.
Year-on-year it is up 7.4 per cent to 404,187 – compared with a
year-on-year drop last month of 6.26 per cent to 341,698.

The Guardian relaunched on September 12 so the figures only
represent a little over half a month in the new format. Daily sales for
the second half of the month are likely to be more like 12 or 13 per
cent up year-on-year.

According to Guardian Newspapers chief executive Carolyn McCall
the paper recorded its biggest ever sale two weeks ago, a figure which
was exceeded again seven days later.
 
She said: “The feedback on the new paper from readers and advertisers has been
overwhelmingly positive.

“Our integrated marketing and retail strategy aimed to put the Guardian in
the hands of as many people as possible and encourage them to re-appraise
the paper. We succeeded. We look forward to the October ABC with
confidence.”

The Times was the other big circulation winner in September, up 5.83
per cent year-on-year to 699,425.

With the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph also both fractionally up,
and The Independent only slightly down, there is something of a mystery
as to where the new Guardian readers have come from. One possibility is
that existing readers are increasing the frequency they buy the paper.

In total the quality papers increased circulation by an average of 2.24
per cent while the red-tops dropped 2.46 per cent and the mid-market
Mail and Express were down 5.82 per cent.

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UK national newspapers circulation for September 2005
Current month Last Month mth/mth Last Year Yr/Yr
Sep 05 Aug 05 +/- % Sep 04 +/- %
National morning popular
Daily Mirror 1,741,740 1,769,771 -1.58 1,793,718 -2.90
Daily Record 462,814 474,186 -2.40 489,519 -5.46
Daily Star 854,184 893,601 -4.41 899,773 -5.07
The Sun 3,300,208 3,361,306 -1.82 3,336,422 -1.09
Total of average daily net
circulation
6,358,946 6,498,864 -2.15 6,519,432 -2.46
National morning mid market
Daily Express 831,373 876,563 -5.16 960,320 -13.43
The Daily Mail 2,373,756 2,384,943 -0.47 2,442,875 -2.83
Total of average daily net
circulation
3,205,129 3,261,506 -1.73 3,403,195 -5.82
National morning quality
The Daily Telegraph 904,283 904,660 -0.04 900,702 0.40
Financial Times 438,538 413,882 5.96 437,717 0.19
The Herald 77,125 77,385 -0.34 80,051 -3.66
The Guardian 404,187 341,698 18.29 376,314 7.41
The Independent 262,552 255,906 2.60 264,594 -0.77
The Scotsman 67,027 71,998 -6.90 70,435 -4.84
The Times 699,425 680,214 2.82 660,906 5.83
Total of average daily net
circulation
2,853,137 2,745,743 3.91 2,790,719 2.24
Overall total of average daily net
circulation
12,417,212 12,506,113 -0.71 12,713,346 -2.33
National morning sporting
Racing Post 75,615 76,768 -1.50 78,084 -3.16
London evening
Evening Standard 327,720 316,453 3.56 367,844 -10.91
National weekly sporting
Sport First 12,882 14,070 -8.44 28,856 -55.36
National morning group
The Daily Mirror / Daily Record 2,204,554 2,243,957 -1.76 2,283,237 -3.45
Current month Last Month mth/mth Last Year Yr/Yr
Sep 05 Aug 05 +/- % Sep 04 +/- %
National sunday popular
Daily Star Sunday 410,595 434,863 -5.58 485,416 -15.41
News of the World 3,769,636 3,759,443 0.27 3,889,415 -3.08
Sunday Mail 553,804 567,704 -2.45 581,364 -4.74
Sunday Mirror 1,533,008 1,558,367 -1.63 1,583,571 -3.19
The People 914,734 945,803 -3.28 1,012,885 -9.69
Sunday Sport 151,252 159,317 -5.06 161,814 -6.53
Total of average Sunday net
circulation
7,333,029 7,425,497 -1.25 7,714,465 -4.94
National sunday mid market
Sunday Express 859,275 919,583 -6.56 1,003,586 -14.38
The Mail on Sunday 2,344,834 2,272,476 3.18 2,337,758 0.30
Total of average Sunday net
circulation
3,204,109 3,192,059 0.38 3,341,344 -4.11
National sunday quality
Independent on Sunday 203,110 202,248 0.43 214,188 -5.17
The Business 184,290 194,206 -5.11 208,980 -11.81
The Observer 438,365 425,737 2.97 462,256 -5.17
Scotland on Sunday 82,837 87,043 -4.83 83,639 -0.96
Sunday Herald 58,528 61,687 -5.12 57,269 2.20
The Sunday Telegraph 689,213 669,747 2.91 701,857 -1.80
The Sunday Times 1,375,972 1,357,916 1.33 1,369,765 0.45
Total of average Sunday net
circulation
3,032,315 2,998,584 1.12 3,097,954 -2.12
Overall total of average Sunday net
circulation
13,569,453 13,616,140 -0.34 14,153,763 -4.13

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