The i appears to have picked up the biggest slice of The Independent’s print circulation.
April was the last full month without The Independent, which had an average daily print sale of just under 40,000.
The latest circulation figures from ABC show that the i, The Times and the Daily Telegraph all boosted their distribution of free bulk copies in April (possibly trying to target former Independent buyers). When these extra bulk copies are taken out of the equation, the increases in paid-for sales month on month were as follows:
- i: Up 12,094
- Daily Telegraph: Up 6,212
- The Times: Up 5,235
- The Guardian: Up 4,612.
The Times and Telegraph both increased their free distribution by just under 11,000 last month while the i gave way just over another 2,000 free copies. The Guardian has no bulk sales.
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When the Independent on Sunday closed it had an average weekly sale of around 45,000 copies. Last month The Sunday Times boosted its free bulk distribution by around 17,000 and the Sunday Telegraph boosted its by around 14,000. When these extra bulks are taken out the equation, the biggest winners month on month were as follows:
- The Sunday Telegraph: Up 11,372
- The Observer: Up 9,471
- The Sunday Times: Up 9,401.
Elsewhere in the market, the cut-price 20p Daily Star continues to take sales mainly from the Daily Mirror – it grew 22 per cent year on year to 513,233, while the Daily Mirror fell 11 per cent year on year to 785,717.
Other than the Star, The Times was the best performing print title – growing its circulation by 10.9 per cent year on year (albeit with the help of more free bulk copies).
National newspaper ABC print circulation figures for April 2016 (source: ABC)
| Title | 16-Apr | MoM% | YoY% | Multiple Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Sun | 1,716,361 | -1.31 | -7.61 | 77,903 |
| Daily Mail | 1,545,473 | -1.94 | -5.25 | 74,463 |
| The Sun on Sunday | 1,413,493 | -0.35 | -4.1 | 81,509 |
| The Mail on Sunday | 1,374,864 | 0.41 | -5 | 68,110 |
| Metro (free) | 1,347,594 | 0.09 | 0.17 | |
| London Evening Standard (free) | 900,175 | 0.95 | 0.37 | |
| The Sunday Times | 797,280 | 3.39 | -1.41 | 63,485 |
| Daily Mirror | 785,717 | 0.2 | -10.87 | 45,000 |
| Sunday Mirror | 709,495 | -0.82 | -14.83 | 45,000 |
| Daily Star | 513,233 | 5.68 | 22.2 | |
| The Daily Telegraph | 498,474 | 3.52 | 2.56 | 19,532 |
| The Times | 436,692 | 3.83 | 10.88 | 66,937 |
| Daily Express | 419,328 | 1.04 | -4.17 | |
| The Sunday Telegraph | 370,579 | 3.04 | -0.07 | 23,817 |
| Sunday Express | 365,071 | -0.19 | -5.27 | |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 316,224 | 6.03 | 24.38 | |
| i | 284,434 | 5.27 | 3.08 | 69,409 |
| Sunday People | 272,019 | -1.81 | -15.94 | 7,000 |
| Financial Times | 195,913 | -3.41 | -7.8 | 21,445 |
| The Observer | 194,054 | 5.32 | -1.2 | |
| Sunday Mail | 186,931 | -0.35 | -13.37 | 3,810 |
| Daily Record | 173,078 | 0.01 | -12.08 | 4,968 |
| The Guardian | 169,424 | 2.91 | -3.82 | |
| Sunday Post | 158,156 | -2.07 | -13.29 | |
| City AM (free) | 96,489 | 0.15 | -11.23 |
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