A TV marketing campaign may have helped push up sales of The Independent’s cut-price stablemate i which rose 31.7 per cent month on month to 175,714 a day in February.
The Independent’s publisher – Lebedev Holdings – today trumpeted the figures as taking the combined daily print circulations of the Independent titles well above that of The Guardian. In a press statement they noted that the combined circulation of i and The Independent is now 358,227 versus The Guardian on 262,612.
However, once the growing number of bulk give-away copies of The Independent are taken out of the equation – the gap is much narrower. The Guardian sold an average of 262,612 copies a day in February (down 7.7 per cent year on year), with no bulks, versus a combined Independent paid-for sale of 276,756. The Independent now gives away an average of 73,701 out of its 176,714 daily circulation, i has 7,770 bulks.
Independent editor-in-chief Simon Kelner said: ‘As we look forward to celebrating our 100th issue next week, the sales growth and success of i is continuing to prove that there is still an appetite for quality journalism from readers who prize intelligence and convenience at a desirable price. I am very proud that i has been able to continue to engage with a fresh market to again produce such impressive figures.”
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New title i launched last October as a digested version of The Independent for 20p a day and is currently the only UK national newspaper which is growing sales.
The Glasgow-based Sunday Herald was the biggest faller in February, dropping 21.2 per cent year on year to 33,083 copies a week after relaunching as a news magazine in January.
The Times was the biggest UK daily newspaper faller, down 11.7 per cent year on year to 445,962.
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UK national press print circulation figures for February (source ABC)
Title, average daily circulation, percentage change year on year
National Dailies
Daily Mirror 1,177,220 -4.68
Daily Record 312,461 -4.79
Daily Star 718,478 -10.62
The Sun 2,818,344 -5.19
Daily Express 623,603 -7.33
Daily Mail 2,070,625 -1.92
The Daily Telegraph 628,338 -8.30
Financial Times 378,707 -2.95
The Herald 51,248 -8.01
The Guardian 262,612 -7.70
i 175,714 n/a
The Independent 182,513 -0.56
The Scotsman 41,800 -8.52
The Times 445,962 -11.70
Racing Post 50,121 -5.40
National Sundays
Daily Star Sunday 302,357 -12.96
News of the World 2,708,158 -9.54
Sunday Mail 364,541 -8.28
Sunday Mirror 1,100,177 -4.83
The People 488,240 -9.83
Sunday Express 533,293 -7.30
Sunday Post 314,482 -6.88
The Mail on Sunday 1,924,589 -2.72
Independent on Sunday 152,782 -1.85
The Observer 302,490 -11.67
Scotland on Sunday 55,788 -4.27
Sunday Herald 33,083 -21.15
The Sunday Telegraph 488,218 -5.43
The Sunday Times 1,045,495 -6.83
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