The final numbers of 2019 were released today allowing us to see where the market (well those papers who are audited) ended up last year. Just a courtesy look at December: It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, as December can go either way for the papers. But sales were down only 1% on the previous month – but -16% on the year, more on that later. In short, the month threw up
November ABC’s were released and as per October, nothing much has changed, bar the 10%+ decline in sales over the year.The only really notable events were the collapse of the Sunday Mail circulation diving 26% to 532 copies and a 1% increase in the sale of the Sunday Times. Market down 1% on the month and 12% on the year.
Another day… October ABC’s showing no signs of bucking the trend and if you look at the accompanying graphic, you’ll see that the trend is far from reversing. The tabloids are down 4% on the month and 12% on the year with the Daily Star taking the biggest hit of just shy of 2,000. Elsewhere in the market the movements are small and there’s nothing shocking to report. The People however did manage a 8%
As I suspected last month, the fickle nature of the sports reader kicked in this month with the three morning tabloids falling nearly 5,000 collectively. The lure of the start of the soccer season was short-lived – shorter even than the tenure of Ole Gunnar Solskjær in the premier league. The Sun took the biggest hit dropping 2,000 on August or 4% on the month while the Mirror fell 1,500 and the Daily Star was
After the relative excitement of last months abandonment of the ABC’s by IN&M, the August monthly figures are a bit of a damp squib. However, August always brings one certainty – a short-lived revival of the tabloid market on the back of the UK soccer season kicking into life again. Collectively the red tops added 4% month on month or short of 5,000. In comparison to August of 2018, it’s an improvement in both actual
Independent News and Media decided to ‘to resign its titles from ABC membership’ and therefore will not be reporting ABC figure for the current Island of Ireland report. Given that 22% of the reporting numbers in the daily market have vanished and 53% of the reporting numbers of the Sunday market have also disappeared it makes this report a ‘busted flush’. But in the spirit of stoicism (and as a hat tip to those publications
July ABC’s: The tabloids, collectively, to a bit of a hammering dropping nearly 1,000 each. The month holds very little for the red-tops as there’s very little in terms of sport with the GAA only at the provincial stages. August will provide them with some sporting ammunition with the super 8’s, the hurling final and the return of the soccer season. The tabloids managed to tread water in the Sunday market. The Sunday Times ‘lost’
The ABC for June 2019 were released today bringing the first half of the year to a close. Tracking the newspapers with six months under their respective belts, the outlook is bleak. Year on year for the first six months of the year these papers are down 10.8% on the first six months of 2018. So, you can assume with some certainty that the Island of Ireland report next month will hold no good news.
May ABC’s were released today. In the morning market the tabloids lost ground over April collectively down by 2,200. The Times (Ireland Edition) dropped by 200 copies showing that, event given the negative press over the closure of the Irish edition there still is a cohort of people who are keen on the title. Given that the title takes (currently) in or around €1m every year for News UK, it would suggest that when the
April 2019 ABC circulation figures were released. The trend remains the same with very little by way of anomalies. The bulks have remained off the majority of News UK title, bat the Sunday Times which is carrying roughly 3,000 bulks. The Sun and Sun on Sunday remain fat-free for the second month. The Daily Star dropped 2,500 on the month but that was mainly due to an increase in sales in March due to Cheltenham.
Another day in paradise! The March ABC’s were released today and within them are a few fundamental changes. It looks as if News UK have had a change of heart/policy and all but canned their use of bulks across all their titles which is reflected by their ‘drop’ in circulation below. The Sun retained 300 against 2,500, The Sun on Sunday abandoned them completely as opposed to carrying 2,500 in the past. The Times (IRE
The February ABC is released. The morning market is continuing its trend of a year on year decline of 10% and no sign of any floor being hit or a slowing in this decline. The Tabloids are down 3% on the month bar the Daily Star which managed to hand on to its numbers from last month. in the Sundays, the monthly fall is the same as the daily at -3%. The year is down
The latest ‘Island of Ireland’ report was released today and, if nothing else, it outlines the continuing decline of newspaper circulation in Ireland. The report compares newspaper sales for the last six months of 2018 to the same period in 2017. Looking at the overall figure first, it shows that year on year, newspaper sales have declined by 10% in the twelve months. The Sunday market fell by -9.3% and the morning market by -10.1%.
The first ABC of 2019 was released earlier. Many of the papers with a monthly ABC saw a bounce in comparison to December, a notoriously slow month in the first place. However, in comparison to their sales the previous January, they are all well off the mark. The Daily Star had a bad month, dropping 1,500 on the month and those sales would seem to have gone to The Sun whose circulation is up 1,700
It’s the final ABC of 2018 and allow as us to access how the last half of the year have fared for the print brands. December is down 2% on the month and 10% on December 2018 with the morning market doing marginally better than the Sunday. The tabloids had a decent month with most of them opting to exclude their sales from 24th to 28th – which is perfectly legitimate. We have to wait
November ABC’s are available and there’s little to report. The market stayed level month on month and 9% down on the year. While the morning market was dawn 2% the Sunday market stayed steady mainly down to a 4% increase in circulation for the Sunday Times and that was keeping bulks at the same level as last month
October ABC’s were released earlier and there are no real surprises. The morning tabloids took a 3% hit on the month but the Sunday tabloids had a decent month. The Mail on Sunday gained 7% or 4,000 copies on the month. The people also managed to add 7% albeit 500 copies. Beneath all the numbers is the worrying underlying trend of the year on year difference. For the past five monthly sets of figures, the
It’s a pattern that is mirrored nearly year – a boost in August and a drift back to normality in September when the gloss has gone off the first few weeks of the soccer season. The morning market was down -4% this month back from a +4% increase in September. The composition, in this analysis, of the morning market is dominated by the tabloids, the cohort most susceptible to the goings on in the Premier
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
The ABC’s for the first half of 2018 were released earlier today. It shows that the newspaper market had contracted by a further 7.1% over the year. The market annual rate of decline hasn’t been below -6% since 2009 and that’s a statistic that doesn’t need further commentary. The Morning market was down slightly more than the Sunday. The stark reality for the industry is that newspaper circulation has halved over the past decade alone.
