April sees the some of the tabloids take a hammering. The Daily Star lost 3,000 copies month on month, but it’s not a one off. In many of the previous years they have had a heavy drop March to April mainly due to the upsurge in the March figure due to Cheltenham. The Sun (Sunday) lost over 5,000 purchasers month on month and they didn’t show up in anyone else’s figures.
In general the month was good for most publishers with ten of the twelve morning titles showing an increase and six of the Sundays making gains. But still, month on month the market was down over 6,000 mainly due to the declines in The Sun (Sunday).
The Sunday Times has to be singled out for attention increasing its circulation by nearly 2,000 on the previous month.
Year on Year is was not so bright with the market back 70,000 most of which was in the Sunday Market. Again, The Sun (Sunday) was the culprit here down nearly 40,000 on its previous incarnation of the NotW. The Mail on Sunday was off by nearly 8,000 on the previous year – again that’s mainly due to a large promotional month in April ’11. The Mirror and People are now back to their pre NotW closure figure.
The morning tabloids are way off last year’s pace – combined they are down 17,000 on the year and the biggest faller being the Daily Star down 9,000.
| Apr-12 | Apr-11 | Mar-12 | Y on Y | M on M | |
| Daily Mirror | 57,610 | 61,036 | 57,290 | -3,426 | 320 |
| Daily Record | 613 | 724 | 616 | -111 | -3 |
| Irish Daily Star | 75,728 | 85,192 | 78,818 | -9,464 | -3,090 |
| The Sun | 73,750 | 78,143 | 72,783 | -4,393 | 967 |
| Daily Express | 2,962 | 3,025 | 2,812 | -63 | 150 |
| Irish Daily Mail | 52,651 | 50,205 | 51,964 | 2,446 | 687 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 2,938 | 3,050 | 2,757 | -112 | 181 |
| Financial Times | 3,150 | 3,553 | 3,121 | -403 | 29 |
| The Guardian | 3,278 | 3,761 | 3,229 | -483 | 49 |
| i | 508 | 773 | 515 | -258 | -7 |
| The Independent | 799 | 912 | 849 | 395 | -50 |
| The Times | 2,187 | 2,326 | 2,071 | -139 | 116 |
| Morning Market | 276,174 | 292,700 | 276,825 | -16,011 | -651 |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 26,006 | 28,545 | 26,437 | -2,539 | -431 |
| The Sun/NotW | 75,512 | 114,904 | 81,165 | -39,392 | -5,653 |
| Sunday Mail | 1,126 | 1,633 | 1,206 | -507 | -80 |
| Sunday Mirror | 40,837 | 40,705 | 42,414 | 132 | -1,577 |
| The People | 18,284 | 18,173 | 17,613 | 111 | 671 |
| Sunday Express | 4,081 | 4,519 | 3,434 | -438 | 647 |
| Sunday Post | 730 | 788 | 694 | -58 | 36 |
| The Mail on Sunday | 108,563 | 116,336 | 110,082 | -7,773 | -1,519 |
| Independent on Sunday | 1,280 | 1,338 | 1,305 | -58 | -25 |
| The Observer | 6,432 | 7,639 | 6,385 | -1,207 | 47 |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 2,938 | 2,953 | 2,642 | -15 | 296 |
| The Sunday Times | 108,748 | 111,194 | 107,025 | -2,446 | 1,723 |
| Sunday Market | 394,537 | 448,727 | 400,402 | -54,190 | -5,865 |
| Racing Post | 6,320 | 6,551 | 7,049 | -231 | -729 |
| Total Market | 677,830 | 747,978 | 684,276 | -70,148 | -6,446 |
