Dominic Ponsford
The Financial Times is apparently in the pink circulation wise – boasting an 8.3 per cent increase year-on-year to 462,235.
This was by far the best performance of any national daily and a
turnaround from the FT’s steady decline of recent years.
A closer look at the data reveals, however, that the FT’s core UK and
Ireland sale is continuing to decline – down to 132,699 from 137,287 a
year ago. And this is despite several thousand more give-away copies,
or bulks, on the UK figures than a year ago – these now total 32,370.
The FT’s growth is coming from its overseas editions – about which we
have less detailed audit information. Circulation of the US
edition has increased to 147,437, compared with 125,104 a year ago, and
the Asia edition has gone up from 35,242 to 46,602.
Elsewhere, the daily newspapers had a tough month. The red-top
market declined by 4.26 per cent year-on-year to a total sale of
6,026,742; the mid-market titles by 3.11 per cent and the quality
mornings by 0.65 per cent.
The Guardian’s berliner size relaunch last September may have
won it a string of awards – but sales wise the benefits are now drying
up. It slipped back 1.38 per cent month-on-month and was up just 1.93
per cent year-on-year to 374,580 – a long way short from its historic
400,000 bedrock sales figure.
In the Sunday market, the heavily promoted Independent on Sunday
and Observer stand out with remarkable double-digit growth
performances: the IoS was up 22.92 per cent year-on-year to 258,368 and
The Observer just above the half million mark thanks to a 11.12 per
cent increase.
The Sportsman, Britain's first new national daily newspaper in 20
years, achieved a launch circulation of 21,819.
Sportsman chairman Jeremy Deedes said: "We are encouraged by April's
sales figure in a month when sales were a secondary concern to
promotion and visibility.
"Now we know exactly where we are, we can embark on sales beyond the
newsstands themselves — like the foreign gambling centres, corporate
hospitality and direct to the racing and betting industry as we gear up
for the all-important World Cup. We are also steadily improving the
distribution of the paper."
Sales of established betting daily, the Racing Post, were down 4.55 per
cent year-on-year to 81,228.
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