By Dominic Ponsford
The Guardian’s relaunch as Britain’s first Berliner size national
newspaper has put it back above 400,000 sales for the first time since
December 2003.
Year-on-year it is up 7.4 per cent to 404,187 – compared with a
year-on-year drop last month of 6.26 per cent to 341,698.
The Guardian relaunched on September 12 so the figures only
represent a little over half a month in the new format. Daily sales for
the second half of the month are likely to be more like 12 or 13 per
cent up year-on-year.
the paper recorded its biggest ever sale two weeks ago, a figure which
was exceeded again seven days later.
overwhelmingly positive.
“Our integrated marketing and retail strategy aimed to put the Guardian in
the hands of as many people as possible and encourage them to re-appraise
the paper. We succeeded. We look forward to the October ABC with
confidence.”
The Times was the other big circulation winner in September, up 5.83
per cent year-on-year to 699,425.
With the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph also both fractionally up,
and The Independent only slightly down, there is something of a mystery
as to where the new Guardian readers have come from. One possibility is
that existing readers are increasing the frequency they buy the paper.
In total the quality papers increased circulation by an average of 2.24
per cent while the red-tops dropped 2.46 per cent and the mid-market
Mail and Express were down 5.82 per cent.
| UK national newspapers circulation for September 2005 | ||||||
| Current month | Last Month | mth/mth | Last Year | Yr/Yr | ||
| Sep 05 | Aug 05 | +/- % | Sep 04 | +/- % | ||
| National morning popular | ||||||
| Daily Mirror | 1,741,740 | 1,769,771 | -1.58 | 1,793,718 | -2.90 | |
| Daily Record | 462,814 | 474,186 | -2.40 | 489,519 | -5.46 | |
| Daily Star | 854,184 | 893,601 | -4.41 | 899,773 | -5.07 | |
| The Sun | 3,300,208 | 3,361,306 | -1.82 | 3,336,422 | -1.09 | |
| Total of average daily net circulation |
6,358,946 | 6,498,864 | -2.15 | 6,519,432 | -2.46 | |
| National morning mid market | ||||||
| Daily Express | 831,373 | 876,563 | -5.16 | 960,320 | -13.43 | |
| The Daily Mail | 2,373,756 | 2,384,943 | -0.47 | 2,442,875 | -2.83 | |
| Total of average daily net circulation |
3,205,129 | 3,261,506 | -1.73 | 3,403,195 | -5.82 | |
| National morning quality | ||||||
| The Daily Telegraph | 904,283 | 904,660 | -0.04 | 900,702 | 0.40 | |
| Financial Times | 438,538 | 413,882 | 5.96 | 437,717 | 0.19 | |
| The Herald | 77,125 | 77,385 | -0.34 | 80,051 | -3.66 | |
| The Guardian | 404,187 | 341,698 | 18.29 | 376,314 | 7.41 | |
| The Independent | 262,552 | 255,906 | 2.60 | 264,594 | -0.77 | |
| The Scotsman | 67,027 | 71,998 | -6.90 | 70,435 | -4.84 | |
| The Times | 699,425 | 680,214 | 2.82 | 660,906 | 5.83 | |
| Total of average daily net circulation |
2,853,137 | 2,745,743 | 3.91 | 2,790,719 | 2.24 | |
| Overall total of average daily net circulation |
12,417,212 | 12,506,113 | -0.71 | 12,713,346 | -2.33 | |
| National morning sporting | ||||||
| Racing Post | 75,615 | 76,768 | -1.50 | 78,084 | -3.16 | |
| London evening | ||||||
| Evening Standard | 327,720 | 316,453 | 3.56 | 367,844 | -10.91 | |
| National weekly sporting | ||||||
| Sport First | 12,882 | 14,070 | -8.44 | 28,856 | -55.36 | |
| National morning group | ||||||
| The Daily Mirror / Daily Record | 2,204,554 | 2,243,957 | -1.76 | 2,283,237 | -3.45 | |
| Current month | Last Month | mth/mth | Last Year | Yr/Yr | ||
| Sep 05 | Aug 05 | +/- % | Sep 04 | +/- % | ||
| National sunday popular | ||||||
| Daily Star Sunday | 410,595 | 434,863 | -5.58 | 485,416 | -15.41 | |
| News of the World | 3,769,636 | 3,759,443 | 0.27 | 3,889,415 | -3.08 | |
| Sunday Mail | 553,804 | 567,704 | -2.45 | 581,364 | -4.74 | |
| Sunday Mirror | 1,533,008 | 1,558,367 | -1.63 | 1,583,571 | -3.19 | |
| The People | 914,734 | 945,803 | -3.28 | 1,012,885 | -9.69 | |
| Sunday Sport | 151,252 | 159,317 | -5.06 | 161,814 | -6.53 | |
| Total of average Sunday net circulation |
7,333,029 | 7,425,497 | -1.25 | 7,714,465 | -4.94 | |
| National sunday mid market | ||||||
| Sunday Express | 859,275 | 919,583 | -6.56 | 1,003,586 | -14.38 | |
| The Mail on Sunday | 2,344,834 | 2,272,476 | 3.18 | 2,337,758 | 0.30 | |
| Total of average Sunday net circulation |
3,204,109 | 3,192,059 | 0.38 | 3,341,344 | -4.11 | |
| National sunday quality | ||||||
| Independent on Sunday | 203,110 | 202,248 | 0.43 | 214,188 | -5.17 | |
| The Business | 184,290 | 194,206 | -5.11 | 208,980 | -11.81 | |
| The Observer | 438,365 | 425,737 | 2.97 | 462,256 | -5.17 | |
| Scotland on Sunday | 82,837 | 87,043 | -4.83 | 83,639 | -0.96 | |
| Sunday Herald | 58,528 | 61,687 | -5.12 | 57,269 | 2.20 | |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 689,213 | 669,747 | 2.91 | 701,857 | -1.80 | |
| The Sunday Times | 1,375,972 | 1,357,916 | 1.33 | 1,369,765 | 0.45 | |
| Total of average Sunday net circulation |
3,032,315 | 2,998,584 | 1.12 | 3,097,954 | -2.12 | |
| Overall total of average Sunday net circulation |
13,569,453 | 13,616,140 | -0.34 | 14,153,763 | -4.13 | |
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
