The Sunday market fell 7% between July December 2013 and July December 2013. The market now stands at 756,118 copies every Sunday down 54,778 on the same period last year.
The biggest selling paper on Sunday is still the Sunday Independent selling 219,007 copies every week. This is down 4.5% on the previous year or 10,375 copies and their actively purchased figure at 96% remains in line with last year. It’s followed by the Sunday World who had a greater than market drop of 9% or 18,719 paper per week leaving them at 189,562.
The Sunday World makes up a part of a wider story of the marked decline in tabloid sales which collectively are down 9% year on year. The People lead the charge declining a decent 18% on the year. This is followed by the Sunday Daily Star down 15% and then the Sunday Mirror down 11%.
| Publication | JD 2014 | JD 2013 | Diff ‘000 | Diff % |
| Sunday Independent | 219,007 | 229,382 | -10,375 | -4.5% |
| Sunday World | 189,562 | 208,281 | -18,719 | -9.0% |
| Sunday Business Post | 33,233 | 34,322 | -1,089 | -3.2% |
| Daily Star Sunday | 18,753 | 21,972 | -3,219 | -14.7% |
| The Sun (Sunday) | 55,551 | 57,304 | -1,753 | -3.1% |
| Irish Sunday Mirror | 33,727 | 38,039 | -4,312 | -11.3% |
| The People | 12,558 | 15,283 | -2,725 | -17.8% |
| Total Tabloid | 310,151 | 340,879 | -30,728 | -9.0% |
| Sunday Express | 3,377 | 3,784 | -407 | -10.8% |
| Mail on Sunday | 95,606 | 101,484 | -5,877 | -5.8% |
| The Observer | 5,214 | 5,849 | -635 | -10.9% |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,481 | 2,718 | -237 | -8.7% |
| Sunday Times | 87,049 | 92,478 | -5,430 | -5.9% |
| Total Sunday | 756,118 | 810,896 | -54,778 | -6.8% |
The Sunday Business Post comes in at 33,233 or 3% down on last year. However, in the corridors of the SBP there have to be some pretty happy faces which you wouldn’t expect with the numbers presented here.
I mention in the article on the morning market that the six monthly figures can be very deceptive. Not only are they completely out of date when they are finally released, but amalgamating the six months can mask all manner of statistics – both good and bad.
In the morning market, the six month audit shows that there is “only” 400 copies between The Sun and The Star. The reality is, from data in the January 2015 ABC audit (that many papers here don’t participate in), that there’s now over 1,000 copies between them in favour of The Sun.
The SBP has a six month audit of 33,233 but looking at its certificate, its December figure is 4,000 ahead of that – which is part of the audit period. The graphic below shows where the SBP is actually tracking. Forget that in the graphic it once sold just shy of 55,000 as that history at this stage. It’s the last few months that are more important.
Likewise, look at the monthly chart below and you’ll see the Sunday Independent is defiantly reversing its -4% metric for the six months data. Figures are good, more recent figures are better. The more recent past has to be a better indicator than figures from eight months ago!
The Mail on Sunday came in at 95,000, a little over 6,000 behind last year and the Sunday Times was back 6% to 87,049.
