The Guardian, FT and Daily Telegraph all ended 2012 on a high note, with small month-on-month circulation increases. But sales of every other national newspaper were down year on year.
Sales of the UK’s top-selling daily The Sun fell by 10 per cent year on year as it competed with cut-price sales from the previous year, while the Daily Mirror kept its rate of decline to half that figure.
Most of the biggest year on year falls in the Sunday market were due to the distorting effect of the closure of the News of the World in July 2011.
Looking at the sales averages for 2012 as a whole, the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror were among the best-performing titles in relative terms, keeping their print sales declines to 6 per cent and 6.6 per cent respectively.
UK national newspaper sales for December 2012 (source ABC)
National dailies |
Average sale |
Month/Month |
Year/Year |
bulks |
Daily Mirror |
1,034,641 |
-0.99 |
-5.27 |
– |
Daily Record |
250,096 |
-1.39 |
-8.89 |
1,822 |
Daily Star |
540,548 |
-3.47 |
-12.32 |
– |
The Sun |
2,277,809 |
-3.55 |
-10.00 |
– |
Daily Express |
529,096 |
-1.52 |
-11.29 |
– |
Daily Mail |
1,844,569 |
-1.44 |
-7.54 |
91,361 |
The Daily Telegraph |
547,465 |
0.19 |
-6.74 |
– |
Financial Times |
286,401 |
1.60 |
-14.19 |
29,815 |
The Guardian |
204,222 |
0.31 |
-11.25 |
– |
i |
291,311 |
-3.66 |
31.39 |
65,239 |
The Independent |
78,082 |
-1.25 |
-34.69 |
18,371 |
The Scotsman |
32,463 |
-0.83 |
-16.00 |
2,368 |
The Times |
396,041 |
-0.82 |
-3.18 |
17,100 |
Racing Post |
45,372 |
-1.70 |
-9.34 |
63 |
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This story first appeared on Press Gazette.