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August 27, 2009

Many regional dailies tumble more than 10%

By Dominic Ponsford

Regional newspaper circulation figures for the first half the year make grim reading with many of the bigger titles losing sales at a rate of more than 10 per cent year on year.

In Birmingham, where Trinity Mirror is currently consulting over another round of cost-cutting, the Evening Mail dropped 14.6 per cent 56,495. Its sister title the Coventry Telegraph fell 11.1 per cent to 41,152.

Elsewhere in the Midlands, the Wolverhampton-based Express and Star fared better. The UK’s biggest regional daily, published by the Midlands News Association, dropped 6.7 per cent to 128,836 – which actually made it one of the better performing daily titles in the UK.

Northcliffe’s two Bristol based dailies both saw percentage sales declines in double figures. The Western Daily Press dropped 10.8 per cent to 35,156 and the Bristol Evening Post was down 10.9 per cent 43,997.

Liverpool’s up-market morning title, The Daily Post was down 18.4 per cent to 11,648. Its sister evening title the Daily Echo was down 10.1 per cent to 92,093.

The Evening Chronicle in Newcastle dropped 11.1 per cent year-on-year to 63,872, the Yorkshire Evening Post in Leeds was down 13.6 per cent to 46,013, the Hull Daily Mail was down 9.7 per cent to 50,826 and the South Wales Echo in Cardiff dropped 11.8 per cent to 39,361.

Both Gloucestershire dailies were down 12 per cent year on year, with The Citizen on 22,593 and the Gloucestershire Echo on 18,097.

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Even previously robust titles were strongly down this time around: The News and Star in Carlisle was down 8.9 per cent year-on-year to just over 20,500 and the North West Evening Mail in Barrow dropped 8.9 per cent to 16,747.

Not a single regional daily newspaper managed to increase sales year on year in the first half of this year. And only a handful of titles managed to keep their sales decline down to under five per cent.

The Manchester Evening News has withdrawn from ABC so did not release a circulation figure this time around.

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