UK Government spent nearly £5m last year advertising with Sun, Times and Mail titles

Central Government departments spent £2.8m on advertising with News UK titles last year, including more than £800,000 with The Sun alone.

The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online received just under £2m in Government advertising for the year to the end of March 2016.

The figures were revealed in response to a parliamentary question asked by Stephen Doughty, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth.

Doughty asked: “How much has the Government spent on advertising in (a) The Times, (b) The Sunday Times, (c) The Mail on Sunday, (d) The Sun, (e) The Sun on Sunday, (f) The Huffington Post, (g) Mail Online, (h) Daily Mail, (i) The Guardian and (j) Trinity Mirror newspapers in each Department in the last six years”.

Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office Ben Gummer replied with figures for the given titles over the past financial year.

The totals are in the table below, along with Press Gazette’s circulation data:

Title	Amount	Print circ/online daily browsers
Daily Mail	£893,398	1,510,824
The Sun	£844,204	1,672,217
Times	£797,808	437,352
The Sunday Times	£759,289	781,237
Mail on Sunday	£564,559	1,315,977
Mail Online	£504,358	14,300,000
Sun on Sunday	£399,773	1,437,208
Daily Mirror/Daily Record/Sunday Mirror/The People	£339,125	1,862,961
The Guardian	£339,125	157,778

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All the figures quoted appear to be for print advertising (with the exception of Mail Online).

Here is Cabinet Office minister Ben Gummer’s answer in full: “Government advertising is purchased by our media buying partner, Carat.

“Carat has held the contract for UK Government media buying since January 2015. The figures that are supplied below show spend by departmental groups for the financial year 2015/16. HM Government does not hold figures for previous financial years.

“In the last Parliament, the Government saved £18.6 billion through efficiencies and reform – and we are aiming to make another £15-20 billion in efficiency savings by 2019-20.

“Since 2010, we have already reduced Government spending on communications by £1 billion.

“Government advertising supports the government’s priorities and helps deliver its programmes. Government communications helps improve the lives of people and communities in the UK, assists with the effective operation of our public services and delivers responsive and informative communications 24 hours a day.

“The advertising expenditure figures below are provided by Departmental Group, and include for each Department expenditure by Arms Length Bodies reporting to the respective Secretary of State.”

Daily Mail/Weekend Magazine

DEFRA £12,160
DCLG £74,100
DWP £79,888
HMT £569,594
Home Office £18,816
DCMS £64,600
DH £74,240
Total £893,398

Trinity Mirror – Daily Mirror/Daily Record/Sunday Mirror/The People/We Love Telly

BIS £8,100
DCLG £16,200
DWP £64,613
HMT £104,669
DH £134,943
DCMS £6,400
MOD £4,200
Total £339,125

Guardian/The Guide/Weekend

DEFRA £2,420
DFE £10,956
DCLG £4,840
DWP £4,180
HMT £69,575
DFT £1,210
Home Office £2,640
UKTI £4,840
DCMS £5,808

Total £106,469

Mail on Sunday/Event Magazine/You Magazine

DEFRA £36,922
DWP £65,268
HMT £363,836
Home Office £16,023
BIS £8,000
DH £41,610
DCMS £32,900

Total £564,559

Sun on Sunday/Fabulous

DWP £76,853
HMT £236,859
DH £75,298
DCMS £10,763
Total £399,773

The Sun/TV Magazine

MOD £12,000
BIS £41,370
DCLG £105,887
DWP £109,603
HMT £301,713
DCMS £42,000
DH £231,631
Total £844,204

The Sunday Times

DEFRA £33,380
DFE £122,904
DWP £31,864
HMT £493,084
Home Office £55,307
BIS £11,370
DCMS £11,380
Total £759,289

Times/Times Magazine

DEFRA £14,400
DFE £36,941
DWP £10,151
HMT £337,019
Home Office £347,341
DCMS £5,970
UKTI £11,488
DCMS £34,498
Total £797,808

Mail Online

HMT £149,500
MOD £154,442
BIS £37,802
DH £162,614
Total £504,358

Huffington Post

We only use one supplier for AOL owned properties (that includes Huffington Post) so it is impossible to distinguish from other AOL bookings that run across the portfolio.

Topics in this article : Government