In the Sunday segment one of the only papers in the report to grow its circulation was the Sunday Business Post, so congratulations to them.
The rise can be attributed to a very strong start to the year, so perhaps an ‘r’ is good for a business newspaper. The Sunday Times also managed the bestgrowth of all papers in the report gaining a very healthy 11%. But, and not to rain too much on the parade, the last two months have not been at all kind to their figures, so it’s wait and see if they can hang on.
Looking at the percentages, I am not overly concerned with papers coming from a low base like the Independent on Sunday or Sunday Express as they tend to deflect from the bigger picture. The big looser over the year was the News of the World, lightening it’s load by some 20,000 copies, whilst still managing to sign a few ‘celeb’ sports writers in the period. They were the worst performers of all the papers. The Sunday World and the Sunday Independent also taking a bit of a hit 4% and 5% respectively.
Notably the latter carries a bit of “padding” in circulation figures. Their level of “regular bulk sales” is nearly 18,000 copies every Sunday, most of which ending up being squeezed under hotel doors around the country. They are not the only paper carrying bulks, but few Sunday papers are at the 9% bulk level. Mail On Sunday jettisoned 9,000 copies year on year despite a large promotional spend.
| 2008 | 2009 | Diff | Diff | ||
| Jan/June | Jan/June | ‘000 | % | ||
| Sunday Independent | 283,024 | 272,174 | -10,850 | -4% | |
| Sunday World | 292,124 | 277,504 | -14,620 | -5% | |
| Sunday Tribune | 65,717 | 65,727 | 10 | 0% | |
| Sunday Business Post | 55,971 | 57,783 | 1,812 | 3% | |
| IoS/Daily Mail | 123,580 | 114,247 | -9,333 | -8% | |
| Daily Star Sunday | 61,376 | 59,691 | -1,686 | -3% | |
| Irish News of the World | 154,328 | 134,177 | -20,151 | -13% | |
| Irish Sunday Mirror | 43,147 | 40,219 | -2,928 | -6% | |
| The People | 28,546 | 24,593 | -3,953 | -12% | |
| Sunday Times | 105,690 | 116,770 | 11,080 | 11% | |
| Sunday Express | 6,447 | 4,683 | -1,765 | -24% | |
| Independent.on Sunday | 3,060 | 1,966 | -1,094 | -34% | |
| The Observer | 11,289 | 10,292 | -997 | -9% | |
| Sunday Telegraph | 3,410 | 2,771 | -639 | -18% | |
| Total Sunday | 1,237,709 | 1,182,595 | -55,114 | -4% |
Market down 55,000 copies, back to 1998 numbers and shaved about €8m at the counter.
