Perhaps, for certain publications, we may have been a tad hasty in the comments for April’s figures. Or indeed it may just show the fickle nature of the newspaper buying public.
The morning market was up marginally mainly due to the tabloids. The end of the Premiership, start of the GAA and the playoffs for the Heineken Cup all contributing to the copy sales. But they are no where near their levels from 2009 with the market down nearly 28,000.
The Sunday market: many of the copies found by the News of the World last month drifted away this month – the paper loosing nearly 6,000 copies in the month after gaining 9,400 the previous month. The Sunday Daily Star had a good month putting on 7,800 papers and the Sunday Mirror gaining 3,000 copies. The Mail on Sunday lost 5,000 in the month.
All of the above gains (with perhaps the exception of the NoW) were in the main down to newspapers promotions. One would have to question the benefit of putting a large amount of work into getting a CD on cover, getting say, 5,000 copies and then for it all to evaporate the following month.
Papers engaging in this sporadic promotional activity have massive swings in their circulation. The difference between high and low of the NoW since January is nearly 14,000 copies, Mail on Sunday 6,600 and Sunday Daily Star 7,800. It only goes to demonstrate how buyers/readers can ebb and flow out of the Newspaper Market.
| Title | Apr-10 | May-10 | May-09 | M on M | Y on Y |
| Daily Mirror | 60,155 | 61,419 | 66,482 | 1,264 | -6,327 |
| Daily Record | 780 | 786 | 2,297 | 6 | -1,517 |
| Irish Daily Star | 93,350 | 94,946 | 100,538 | 1,596 | -7,188 |
| The Sun | 86,179 | 86,597 | 95,609 | 418 | -9,430 |
| Daily Express | 2,895 | 2,934 | 3,311 | 39 | -416 |
| Irish Daily Mail | 49,537 | 49,654 | 50,061 | 117 | -524 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 2,878 | 2,963 | 3,266 | 85 | -388 |
| Financial Times | 3,588 | 4,067 | 3,998 | 479 | -410 |
| The Guardian | 3,757 | 3,810 | 4,412 | 53 | -655 |
| The Independent | 1,139 | 1,171 | 1,815 | 32 | -676 |
| The Times | 2,621 | 2,601 | 2,852 | -20 | -231 |
| Morning Market | 306,879 | 310,948 | 334,641 | 4,069 | -27,762 |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 50,611 | 58,464 | 56,255 | 7,853 | -5,644 |
| News of the World | 140,329 | 134,716 | 128,005 | -5,613 | 12,324 |
| Sunday Mail | 1,561 | 1,809 | 6,622 | 248 | -5,061 |
| Sunday Mirror | 35,503 | 38,693 | 39,407 | 3,190 | -3,904 |
| The People | 20,576 | 19,946 | 23,842 | -630 | -3,266 |
| Sunday Express | 4,070 | 3,786 | 4,823 | -284 | -753 |
| Sunday Post | 785 | 790 | 875 | 5 | -90 |
| The Mail on Sunday | 114,727 | 109,405 | 112,416 | -5,322 | 2,311 |
| Independent on Sunday | 1,858 | 1,525 | 1,559 | -333 | 299 |
| The Observer | 8,006 | 7,766 | 9,756 | -240 | -1,750 |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 2,471 | 2,375 | 2,847 | -96 | -376 |
| The Sunday Times | 111,128 | 113,764 | 117,293 | 2,636 | -6,165 |
| Sunday Market | 491,625 | 493,039 | 503,700 | 1,414 | -12,075 |
| Racing Post | 7,534 | 6,418 | 8,352 | -1,116 | -818 |
| Total Market | 798,504 | 803,987 | 838,341 | 5,483 | -39,837 |
