Another day in paradise! The March ABC’s were released today and within them are a few fundamental changes. It looks as if News UK have had a change of heart/policy and all but canned their use of bulks across all their titles which is reflected by their ‘drop’ in circulation below.
The Sun retained 300 against 2,500, The Sun on Sunday abandoned them completely as opposed to carrying 2,500 in the past. The Times (IRE Edition) is down to 500 from over 3,000 the previous month and the Sunday Times retained 2,800, but still down from 5,700 in February.
The morning tabloids were spared a huge drop on the back of these policy changes except that the Daily Star had a decent month most likely spurred on by decent sales on the back of the Cheltenham Festival.
Likewise, the drop that The Sun should have seen was cushioned by increases from Cheltenham sales and the net effect was a fall of only 200 copies – indicating they increased their paid for sales in March by about 2,200 copies. In April, and post the Cheltenham effect, all will be laid bare.
It might make for uncomfortable reading for some publishers still shielding the real physique of their brands behind ’multiple copy sales’ but maybe that’s the transparency the market needs.
| Daily Mirror | 27,854 | 27,297 | 29,949 | 557 | -2,095 | 2% | -7% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Record | 251 | 242 | 247 | 9 | 4 | 4% | 2% |
| Irish Daily Star | 44,034 | 41,843 | 49,548 | 2,191 | -5,514 | 5% | -11% |
| The Sun | 49,854 | 50,042 | 55,962 | -188 | -6,108 | 0% | -11% |
| Tabloids | 121,993 | 119,424 | 135,706 | 2,569 | -13,713 | 2% | -10% |
| Daily Express | 2,094 | 2,075 | 2,173 | 19 | -79 | 1% | -4% |
| Irish Daily Mail | 27,603 | 28,716 | 31,795 | -1,113 | -4,192 | -4% | -13% |
| Daily Telegraph | 1,834 | 1,805 | 1,869 | 29 | -35 | 2% | -2% |
| Financial Times | 2,181 | 2,157 | 2,044 | 24 | 137 | 1% | 7% |
| The Guardian | 1,944 | 1,908 | 1,858 | 36 | 86 | 2% | 5% |
| The Times | 3,674 | 6,218 | 6,809 | -2,544 | -3,135 | -41% | -46% |
| Morning Market | 161,323 | 162,303 | 182,254 | -980 | -20,931 | -1% | -11% |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 11,597 | 12,191 | 16,012 | -594 | -4,415 | -5% | -28% |
| Sun on Sunday | 43,468 | 46,955 | 52,720 | -3,487 | -9,252 | -7% | -18% |
| Sunday Mail | 640 | 617 | 794 | 23 | -154 | 4% | -19% |
| Sunday Mirror | 18,776 | 19,292 | 21,083 | -516 | -2,307 | -3% | -11% |
| The People | 6,800 | 7,087 | 7,672 | -287 | -872 | -4% | -11% |
| Sunday Express | 2,554 | 2,487 | 2,756 | 67 | -202 | 3% | -7% |
| Sunday Post | 302 | 309 | 386 | -7 | -84 | -2% | -22% |
| Mail on Sunday | 58,625 | 60,021 | 62,325 | -1,396 | -3,700 | -2% | -6% |
| The Observer | 4,052 | 3,978 | 4,480 | 74 | -428 | 2% | -10% |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,451 | 1,498 | 1,545 | -47 | -94 | -3% | -6% |
| Sunday Times | 67,989 | 71,488 | 78,224 | -3,499 | -10,235 | -5% | -13% |
| Sunday Market | 216,254 | 225,923 | 247,997 | -9,669 | -31,743 | -4% | -13% |
| Total Market | 377,577 | 388,226 | 430,251 | -10,649 | -52,674 | -3% | -12% |
