August brought some much needed good news to the beleaguered newspaper market – a month on month increase in sales and the last time that occurred was August ’17. That’s actually no coincidence as August has always been kind to publishers.
This August there was a bevy of large events: the two All Ireland finals took place, whereas they were normally played in September. We had the Papal visit, but I suspect that was more in the arena of the visual media and, more importantly, the ‘foreign game’ returned (a phrase much used in GAA circles pre ’71!). All these aligned to boost the coffers of publishers and retailers alike.
Naturally the big winners in August were the tabloids, given their preoccupation with all things soccer, with the Irish Daily Star taking the bulk of the increase in sales. The Mirror also increased just over 1,000 and The Sun seemed to be unable to capitalise on all the extra activity increasing by 800 copies.
Even the lure of papal coins couldn’t save the Irish Mail on Sunday dipping by over 2,000. Conversely the Sunday Times had a better month (even with bulks saying at the same level as July) increasing 1,200.
You can fully expect the status quo to return in September with more red ink than black.
| Title | Aug-18 | Jun-18 | Aug-17 | M/M | Y/Y | % M/M | % Y/Y |
| Daily Mirror | 30,219 | 29,054 | 33,559 | 1,165 | -3,340 | 4% | -10% |
| Daily Record | 307 | 302 | 355 | 5 | -48 | 2% | -14% |
| Irish Daily Star | 46,559 | 44,425 | 51,482 | 2,134 | -4,923 | 5% | -10% |
| The Sun | 54,303 | 53,441 | 58,459 | 862 | -4,156 | 2% | -7% |
| Tabloids | 131,388 | 127,222 | 143,855 | 4,166 | -12,467 | 3% | -9% |
| Daily Express | 2,443 | 2,384 | 2,558 | 59 | -115 | 2% | -4% |
| Irish Daily Mail | 32,068 | 30,200 | 41,526 | 1,868 | -9,458 | 6% | -23% |
| The Daily Telegraph | 2,074 | 2,041 | 2,205 | 33 | -131 | 2% | -6% |
| Financial Times | 2,113 | 2,132 | 2,171 | -19 | -58 | -1% | -3% |
| The Guardian | 2,077 | 2,016 | 2,263 | 61 | -186 | 3% | -8% |
| The Times | 6,955 | 6,993 | 10,456 | -38 | -3,501 | -1% | -33% |
| Morning Market | 179,118 | 172,988 | 205,034 | 6,130 | -25,916 | 4% | -13% |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 13,780 | 14,331 | 15,904 | -551 | -2,124 | -4% | -13% |
| The Sun on Sunday | 50,530 | 50,278 | 55,876 | 252 | -5,346 | 1% | -10% |
| Sunday Mail | 825 | 742 | 772 | 83 | 53 | 11% | 7% |
| Sunday Mirror | 20,642 | 20,960 | 22,782 | -318 | -2,140 | -2% | -9% |
| The People | 7,596 | 7,887 | 8,583 | -291 | -987 | -4% | -11% |
| Sunday Express | 2,874 | 2,583 | 3,334 | 291 | -460 | 11% | -14% |
| Sunday Post | 345 | 363 | 557 | -18 | -212 | -5% | -38% |
| The Mail on Sunday | 58,802 | 60,822 | 79,551 | -2,020 | -20,749 | -3% | -26% |
| The Observer | 4,281 | 4,217 | 4,722 | 64 | -441 | 2% | -9% |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1,664 | 1,635 | 1,851 | 29 | -187 | 2% | -10% |
| Sunday Times | 71,835 | 70,567 | 76,975 | 1,268 | -5,140 | 2% | -7% |
| Sunday Market | 233,174 | 234,385 | 270,907 | -1,211 | -37,733 | -1% | -14% |
| Total Market | 412,292 | 407,373 | 475,941 | 4,919 | -63,649 | 1% | -13% |
