August shows a ‘modest’ increase in newspaper sales, the market picking up by 10,000 copies. This was really down to the Sunday market increasing by 13,000 and the morning papers backing by 3,000. In the mornings the Tabloids again took a bit of a hit. August being a strange months for Tabloids. There is a seasonal lull in the ‘trades’, which has a negative effect on their circulations. But this is normally balanced with the kickoff off of the the UK soccer season, so maybe within those figures is that magical mix.
| Title | Jul | Aug | +/- |
| Daily Mirror | 64,997 | 64,948 | -49 |
| Daily Record | 2,332 | 1,736 | 103 |
| Daily Star | 100,112 | 99,317 | -795 |
| The Sun | 96,448 | 95,457 | -991 |
| Daily Express | 3,706 | 3,700 | -6 |
| Daily Mail | 48,714 | 48,662 | -52 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 3,273 | 3,146 | -127 |
| Financial Times | 3,684 | 3,542 | -142 |
| The Guardian | 4,371 | 4,321 | -50 |
| The Independent | 1,487 | 1,382 | -105 |
| The Times | 3,023 | 3,081 | 58 |
| Morning Market | 332,147 | 329,292 | -2,855 |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 57,245 | 58,108 | 863 |
| News of the World | 136,916 | 138,948 | 2,032 |
| Sunday Mail | 6,698 | 4,715 | -1,983 |
| Sunday Mirror | 41,724 | 43,052 | 1,328 |
| The People | 23,527 | 23,317 | -210 |
| Sunday Express | 5,134 | 4,932 | -202 |
| Sunday Post | 942 | 920 | -22 |
| The Mail on Sunday | 101,031 | 107,304 | 6,273 |
| Independent on Sunday | 1,963 | 1,914 | -49 |
| The Observer | 9,762 | 9,087 | -675 |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 2,773 | 2,704 | -69 |
| The Sunday Times | 111,584 | 118,072 | 6,488 |
| Racing Post | 8,252 | 7,485 | -767 |
| Sunday Market | 507,551 | 520,558 | 13,007 |
| Total Market | 839,698 | 849,850 | 10,152 |
The Sunday market sees a near “Lazarus” type of resurrection! The Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday, having dipped to year lows in July, both made spectacular recoveries in August – both promotionally driven I would suggest. The two papers combines are the gains in the Sunday Market. It’s a pity we don’t know what some of the indigenous papers are doing and we’ll have to wait until 2010 to find out what their numbers were this month. Who says we live in a ‘fast moving economy’.