The final ABC of 2014 was released today. Both the December ABC and the July-Dec figure are available for the majority of papers in the Irish Market.
Looking at the December ABC first: it’s a month that’s normally very quite in terms of newspaper sales and this is reflected in the morning figures here. The Daily Star had another torrid month dropping 2,200 in December alone. It’s not an isolated loss for the publication having sustained in or around 2,000 declines every month since September. The Sun and The Mirror also declined but not to the extent of The Star.
In the Sunday market there was reversal of fortunes where nearly all the Sundays lifted in the final month. Now there could be reasonable explanation for this uplift. Firstly there were five Sundays in the month and all of the papers were allowed an exemption for Sunday 28th as the sales would have been poor. So we are are looking at an average of four strong publications out of five for the month. The Sundays historically throw a few quid at the market in December in the form of supplements, mainly the TV type – which sell well. So both factors contributed to a buoyant month for the Sundays.
It all meant that the Sunday market added 7,000 on the month or 2% but is still down 5% year on Year.
| Title | Dec-14 | Dec-13 | Nov-14 | Y o Y | M o M | Y % +/- | M % +/- |
| Daily Mirror | 43,918 | 47,376 | 45,095 | -3,458 | -1,177 | -7% | -3% |
| Daily Record | 279 | 420 | 272 | -141 | 7 | -34% | 3% |
| Irish Daily Star | 54,515 | 60,327 | 56,759 | -5,812 | -2,244 | -10% | -4% |
| The Sun | 56,101 | 59,606 | 57,336 | -3,505 | -1,235 | -6% | -2% |
| Morning Tabloids | 154,813 | 167,729 | 159,462 | -12,916 | -4,649 | -8% | -3% |
| Daily Express | 2,559 | 2,736 | 2,539 | -177 | 20 | -6% | 1% |
| Irish Daily Mail | 43,850 | 50,901 | 45,103 | -7,051 | -1,253 | -14% | -3% |
| The Daily Telegraph | 2,712 | 2,783 | 2,540 | -71 | 172 | -3% | 7% |
| Financial Times | 2,381 | 2,529 | 2,390 | -148 | -9 | -6% | 0% |
| The Guardian | 2,705 | 3,017 | 2,523 | -312 | 182 | -10% | 7% |
| i | |||||||
| The Independent | |||||||
| The Times | 2,369 | 2,097 | 2,174 | 272 | 195 | 13% | 9% |
| Morning Market | 211,389 | 231,792 | 216,731 | -20,403 | -5,342 | -9% | -2% |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 18,781 | 20,207 | 16,855 | -1,426 | 1,926 | -7% | 11% |
| The Sun/NotW | 54,881 | 53,163 | 53,921 | 1,718 | 960 | 3% | 2% |
| Sunday Mail | 883 | 903 | 816 | -20 | 67 | -2% | 8% |
| Sunday Mirror | 33,260 | 35,082 | 31,662 | -1,822 | 1,598 | -5% | 5% |
| The People | 12,508 | 14,044 | 12,469 | -1,536 | 39 | -11% | 0% |
| Sunday Tabloids | 120,313 | 123,399 | 115,723 | -3,086 | 4,590 | -3% | 4% |
| Sunday Express | 3,374 | 3,268 | 3,080 | 106 | 294 | 3% | 10% |
| Sunday Post | 520 | 549 | 478 | -29 | 42 | -5% | 9% |
| The Mail on Sunday | 91,611 | 100,128 | 94,356 | -8,517 | -2,745 | -9% | -3% |
| Independent on Sunday | – | – | |||||
| The Observer | 5,166 | 5,574 | 4,967 | -408 | 199 | -7% | 4% |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 2,449 | 2,444 | 2,239 | 5 | 210 | 0% | 9% |
| The Sunday Times | 86,059 | 92,233 | 86,290 | -6,174 | -231 | -7% | 0% |
| Sunday Market | 429,805 | 450,994 | 422,856 | -21,189 | 6,949 | -5% | 2% |
| Total Market | 641,194 | 682,786 | 639,587 | -41,592 | 1,607 | -6% | 0% |
But the December figure also allows us to close off 2014 – or more importantly finalise the July – Dec figures for most of the papers. Six newspapers will not publish ABC’s until next month so we won’t be able to see the full picture until then. The “Total” figure for both the Sunday and Morning tables do not include the papers awaiting their certificates.
The morning market shows that the papers producing monthly certs are down 9% year on year. I’d expect that to lighten up a little when the other papers are added as the table here is dominated by the morning tabloids who have taken a bruising over the year. I’d expect a little more stability from the other morning titles.
The Sunday show a drop of 5% but the two biggest titles are not accounted for yet, so anything could happen.
| Publication | JJ 2014 | JJ 2013 | Diff ‘000 | Diff % |
| Sunday Independent | N/A | 229,382 | ||
| Sunday World | N/A | 208,281 | ||
| Sunday Business Post | N/A | 34,012 | ||
| Daily Star Sunday | 18,781 | 19,877 | -1,096 | -6% |
| The Sun (Sunday) | 54,881 | 55,417 | -536 | -1% |
| Irish Sunday Mirror | 33,260 | 35,467 | -2,207 | -6% |
| The People | 12,508 | 13,759 | -1,251 | -9% |
| Sunday Express | 3,374 | 3,486 | -112 | -3% |
| Mail on Sunday | 96,414 | 100,082 | -3,668 | -4% |
| Independent.on Sunday | ||||
| The Observer | 5,166 | 5,319 | -153 | -3% |
| Sunday Telegraph | 2,449 | 2,528 | -79 | -3% |
| Sunday Times | 86,059 | 91,841 | -5,782 | -6% |
| Total Sunday* | 312,892 | 327,776 | -14,884 | -5% |
| Publication | JD 2014 | JD 2013 | Diff ‘000 | Diff % |
| Irish Independent | N/A | 117,361 | ||
| Irish Times | N/A | 82,059 | ||
| Examiner | N/A | 37,009 | ||
| Daily Mirror | 46,870 | 52,165 | -5,295 | -10% |
| Irish Daily Star | 58,718 | 64,745 | -6,027 | -9% |
| The Sun | 59,119 | 63,535 | -4,416 | -7% |
| Tabloids | 164,707 | 180,445 | -15,738 | -9% |
| Daily Express | 2,756 | 3,057 | -301 | -10% |
| Irish Daily Mail | 45,141 | 49,814 | -4,673 | -9% |
| Daily Telegraph | 2,712 | 2,864 | -152 | -5% |
| Financial Times | 2,381 | 2,545 | -164 | -6% |
| Guardian | 2,705 | 3,078 | -373 | -12% |
| i | 0 | 132 | ||
| The Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| The Times | 2,369 | 2,221 | 148 | 7% |
| Total | 222,771 | 244,156 | -21,385 | -9% |
