Day: 21 August 2014

The morning market slipped back 6% to 463,000 since the audit of Jan-June 2013 and has now dropped 28% since 2000. The brunt of the fall was felt in the ‘red tops’ who collectively have fallen 35% since the millennium whereas the non red-tops have declined by 22%.  

The Irish Independent lost  8,700 copies or 7% of its circulation over the year and managed to kept the bulks at 13% the same as last year. The Irish Times managed to stay ahead of the eighty mark but lost 3,800 (-5%) over the same period last year. But, perhaps things could have been worse if the ‘bulks’ hadn’t kicked in. The Irish Times increased their bulks from an average of 6,036 last year to 9,014 this time out or 4.2% of sales in 2013 to 11.3% of sales in 2014.

The Examiner fared badly over the year dropping -8% to 35,000.

Red Tops

The real damage was sustained to the “red-tops” who are collectively down 7% year on year and a massive 35% since 2000. Their share of the morning market has fallen to 37% down from a high in 2005 of a 45% share. 

The biggest faller over the twelve months has been the Daily Star back nearly 6,000 copies or –9%. This is followed by The Sun down -7% or 4,500 and The Mirror declined 8% down 4,200. Given that we are looking at an average circulation over the first six months of the year, it’s as well to point out that the recent past has seen further declines in fortunes with The Star and Sun slipping below sixty and the Mirror under the forty levels.  

A quick glance at the table below just shows how unsustainable theses continued falls are. 

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Finally, it’s as well to mention the Herald here as they are now firmly established as a morning paper – by the mere fact that they are up and dressed like the rest of them when the shops open.  The move to the crowed morning market did perplex me and it would seem that it didn’t do much in terms of sales either. Sales are down 12% over the year to 51,600