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National press ABCs: Quality sales tumble

By Dominic Ponsford

Sales at the quality end of the UK national newspaper market tumbled in June, according to the latest ABC print circulation figures.

The Times was down 14.8 per cent year on year, the Telegraph dropped 18.5 per cent and The Guardian also dropped 14.8 per cent.

No UK-wide national title managed a year on year circulation rise, with the Daily Star yet to feel the benefits of its latest price cut to 10p.

The Times website paywall has only been in place since the start of this month, so it is too soon to say whether it will help shore up print sales.

The extent of the decline amongst the qualities has been exagerrated by the fact they have been stripping out free bulk sales and overseas copies from their circulations.

The biggest year-on-year faller was The Observer, down 20.3 per cent year on year to 326,821.

National newspaper print circulations for June 2010 (source ABC)

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Average daily sale and percentation change year on year:

Dailies

Daily Mirror 1,248,919 -6.12

Daily Record 323,235 -6.90

Daily Star 809,992 -6.95

The Sun 2,979,999 -1.60

Daily Express 664,293 -8.94

Daily Mail 2,092,643 -4.93

The Daily Telegraph 681,322 -18.45

Financial Times 391,865 -4.88

The Herald 53,230 -7.84

The Guardian 286,220 -14.82

The Independent 187,135 -6.62

The Scotsman 44,318 -6.82

The Times 503,642 -14.77

Racing Post 59,028 56,818 3.89 64,317 -8.22

Sundays

Daily Star Sunday 352,187 -8.78

News of the World 2,828,800 -6.27

Sunday Mail 387,367 -7.25

Sunday Mirror 1,147,926 -7.68

The People 519,273 -11.46

Sunday Express 566,934 -11.35

Sunday Post 324,965 -7.87

The Mail on Sunday 1,908,995 -7.29

Independent on Sunday 157,132 -3.29

The Observer 326,821 -20.28

Scotland on Sunday 55,663 -11.19

Sunday Herald 40,718 9.04

The Sunday Telegraph 508,706 -17.41

The Sunday Times 1,085,724 -10.30

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