Despite increasing its cover price by 5p to 50p in April, the Daily Mail still managed to be one of just three national newspapers to increase sales year on year that month.
The Mail was helped by a promotional effort which included a series of 12 war DVDs available via instant redeem vouchers printed in the paper.
The Mail on Sunday also had a relatively good April, down 1.76 per cent year on year, making it the best-performing national Sunday title.
The Evening Standard, which had a month of coverage dominated by the London mayoral elections, increased its headline ABC by 5.62 per cent year on year to 281,187.
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When bulk give-away copies of the Standard (which accounted for 99,711 of the total in April) are taken out of the picture, the Standard’s paid-for sales dropped 8.1 per cent year on year.
The Sun managed a third successive month-on-month sales increase and was the only other national title to increase its year-on-year sale in April – up 2.77 per cent to 3,131,919. The Sun was helped by its discounted 20p price tag in London and the South East. This week, after eight months, it began edging the price back up in London, taking it to 25p. While close to a third of its sales were discounted, The Sun gives away no free bulk copies at all.
Daily Telegraph sales were not apparently helped at all by its big ‘Making of Margaret Thatcher’give-away. Its headline ABC dropped 3.03 per cent, but excluding bulks and other country copies it fell 5.15 per cent.
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In the London free-newspaper war, News International‘s thelondonpaper continues to give more copies away at 500,911 against Associated Newspapers‘ London Lite on 402,281.
Circulation of free national daily Metro stood at 1,360,685 in April – making it the fourth biggest national daily in terms of distribution.
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