The Republic of Ireland Circulations for March, for the papers that participate in monthly ABC’s we released. Collectively they are showing 6.5% year on year decline and losing some 13,000 collectively copies since the beginning of 2009 alone.
The tabloids are again taking the brunt of the drop in the morning market. The stereotypical view of the ‘redtop’ reader working on site or in an allied trade may actually be true and the redtop paper’s circulation seems to be intrinsically linked to the construction sector.
Month on month the tabloids did get a slight lift (as they do historically) from the Cheltenham festival, The Sun getting the best lift. The lift is better than their morning rivals and the Jade Goode factor is also in there as the paper had a close relationship with here prior to her death at the end of March. Staying with the month on month – the Daily Mail took a bit of a downward shift as did its larger sister on Sunday.
The Sunday tabloids are down month on months bar The Star. The Sunday Times making some inroads not only by the month but also annually having the highest growth over the past 12 months. The News of the World is the real looser dropping 14% year on year and The People jettisoned 17% of its circulation in 12 months.
| 2008 | 2009 | 2009 | Feb V Mar | 08V ’09 | |
| Mar | Feb | March | Mth on Mot | Yr on Yr | |
| Daily Mirror | 71,230 | 63,512 | 65,296 | 1,784 | -5,934 |
| Daily Record | 2,789 | 3,127 | 3,302 | 175 | 513 |
| Daily Star | 105,278 | 96,626 | 97,313 | 687 | -7,965 |
| The Sun | 105,776 | 96,163 | 99,386 | 3,223 | -6,390 |
| Daily Express | 3,462 | 3,038 | 3,247 | 209 | -215 |
| Daily Mail | 60,630 | 55,942 | 51,470 | -4,472 | -9,160 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 3,601 | 3,089 | 3,081 | -8 | -520 |
| Financial Times | 5,118 | 4,355 | 4,176 | -179 | -942 |
| The Guardian | 4,875 | 4,485 | 4,499 | 14 | -376 |
| The Independent | 2,237 | 2,042 | 1,877 | -165 | -360 |
| The Times | 3,819 | 2,854 | 2,835 | -19 | -984 |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 55,511 | 54,185 | 55,925 | 1,740 | 414 |
| News of the World | 160,294 | 135,552 | 137,768 | 2,216 | -22,526 |
| Sunday Mail | 5,456 | 8,114 | 6,144 | -1,970 | 688 |
| Sunday Mirror | 42,875 | 41,775 | 40,497 | -1,278 | -2,378 |
| The People | 28,727 | 25,963 | 23,619 | -2,344 | -5,108 |
| Sunday Express | 5,944 | 4,544 | 4,604 | 60 | -1,340 |
| Sunday Post | 940 | 862 | 884 | 22 | -56 |
| The Mail on Sunday | 111,323 | 113,499 | 107,519 | -5,980 | -3,804 |
| Independent on Sunday | 3,080 | 2,296 | 2,108 | -188 | -972 |
| The Observer | 12,645 | 11,223 | 10,956 | -267 | -1,689 |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 3,360 | 2,842 | 2,852 | 10 | -508 |
| The Sunday Times | 107,710 | 117,426 | 119,575 | 2,149 | 11,865 |
| Racing Post | 10,800 | 6,974 | 9,452 | 2,478 | -1,348 |
| 917,480 | 860,488 | 858,385 | -2,103 | -59,095 |