Numbers are getting particularly thing on the ground – just like god news

There was a small break in transmission! The ABC for August are detailed below.

With only five papers reporting in the morning and the same quantity in the Sunday, I’d strongly suggest that the ABC metric is on its last legs. It doesn’t really give any indication as to what’s really happening in the market – but if the drops shown here are anything to go by, it’s not good.

The March ABC figures for the remaining papers in the ABC

February 2022 Circulation Numbers:

Final numbers of ’21. With 10 papers still with skin in the game, it’s not really worth a comparison with ’20 with so few papers reporting.

Second last certificates of the year. Again , nothing out of the ordinary

October ABC’s with little to report! Incredible to think that only ten titles are prepared to publish their numbers. I’d say if any other groupd decide to pull their data, the ABC metric is as good as dead.

I’ve used ABC numbers to plot newspaper data from (in come cases) 1990. Individual years or papers (or both) can be viewed. See this here 

September ABC’s have been published. Again, nothing dramatic and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get blood from this particular stone! Just to clarify – ‘No Cert’ is in the table for some publications. It means that they have not made public their cert for that month. An option for publishers that was introduced at the beginning of lock-down (March ’20) but is still available and availed of – The Guardian being the latest to join those ranks.

Audited circulation for August ’21 are available and, for one something changed on the market. Using some of the rules introduced by the ABC way back in April ’20, Guardian News and Media numbers are only available by contacting the publisher. They are still registered with the ABC and conduct a Monthly audit but elect not to make it publicly available.

In the Irish market, there are fourteen daily papers available, five of which are audited. Similarly, in the Sunday market, there are twelve papers available, five of which are audited. It wouldn’t fill you with confidence that the circulation metric will survive and it puts the ABC under more pressure.

ABC data for June 2021 have been released. You’ll see from the graphic below that the Sundays seem to have fared better in the past 18 months than the mornings. The trend is, in the main downward, but there have been glimpses of month on month increases.

At the time of posting this, the Financial Times had not published a ABC cert

The only interesting point about this months numbers is that they are nearly level with this month last year – which ins a rapidly declining market is unusual. The Mirror and Daily Star are showing an increase on the previous year and even the FT is showing an increase on the previous year.

There was an interesting and honest interview with Marc Vangeel chief executive of Mediahuis Ireland in the Sunday Times on Sunday (16/05). In it, he discussed the name change, the drive to digital (40,000 digital subs was quoted) and the current circulation of the papers. This where we strayed into the ‘muddy waters’ lane with the line “the group sells about 300,000 newspapers across all its brands at the weekend”. OK then! Looking at the last audited figure and some back of the napkin sums suggest that the ‘weekend bundle’ are still travelling at a -10% trajectory each year.