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The Irish News and Shropshire Star were the only ABC-audited UK regional daily newspapers to beat their sales from the first Covid-19 lockdown in the first half of this year.
Meanwhile every one of the 40 ABC-audited titles have dropped at least 11% of their circulations compared to January to March 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the UK. The average decline was of 18%.
Last year ABC published two sets of figures for each newspaper for the first half of the year: an official January to June figure and a Covid-19 figure covering from the start of lockdown on 23 March until 28 June. This means it is now possible to compare circulations from before and after the UK’s first strict lockdown.
DC Thomson’s Aberdeen Press & Journal remains the UK’s top-selling regional newspaper with a circulation of 31,629 following a 17% decline since the start of 2020.
Second is the Irish News, which fell by 11% to 28,014. JPI’s Shropshire Star also fell by 11% to 9,706. Both were the only two titles to have returned their circulations above where they were in last spring’s lockdown period.
Scroll down or click here to see full ABC figures
Reach’s Manchester Evening News was also above its March to June 2020 circulation but this was because it had restarted distributing free copies to businesses. Its most recent figure of 8,968 compares to 14,364 at the start of 2020 and 452 in the first lockdown when the stay-at-home order removed opportunities for casual pick-ups. The MEN’s subscriptions and newsstand sales were this year down compared to the first lockdown.
The biggest circulation decline was at the Express & Star in the West Midlands, which went from 31,477 at the start of 2020 to 19,683 in the first six months of this year. This includes a decline in free distribution from 6,934 to 934.
The second steepest drop was at Reach’s Bristol Post which fell by 26% from 9,295 at the start of last year to 7,337 in the first lockdown and 6,833 in the first half of this year.
Figures for the first half of 2020 at the Yorkshire Post, Scotsman and Belfast News Letter were unavailable.
Many regional news websites reported record online traffic highs last year as people searched for reliable Covid-19 news and information.
Even since then Reach, the UK’s largest regional news publisher, grew page views by 1% in the first half of this year, while loyal users were up 30%. All the major regional publishers are currently investing in digital journalist jobs to continue this push.
As with other sectors, not all UK regional dailies are audited by ABC.
ABC totals and % change for the first half of 2020 to 2021:
| Newspaper | Owner | Official ABC total Jan-June 2021 | Official ABC total Jan-June 2020 | ABC Covid-19 total 23 March – 28 June | % change from official Jan-June 2020 total |
| Aberdeen - Press & Journal | Aberdeen Journals Ltd | 31,629 | 38,252 | 31,222 | -17 |
| Irish News | Irish News Ltd | 28,014 | 31,613 | 27,487 | -11 |
| Dundee - The Courier | DC Thomson Media | 25,235 | 28,985 | 26,829 | -13 |
| Manchester Evening News | Reach Regionals Limited | 22,107 | 29,613 | 13,993 | -25 |
| Liverpool Echo | Reach Regionals Limited | 22,069 | 26,600 | 24,340 | -17 |
| Express & Star (West Midlands) | Express & Star Ltd | 19,683 | 31,477 | 20,293 | -37 |
| Norwich - Eastern Daily Press | Archant Ltd | 18,445 | 21,692 | 18,583 | -15 |
| Leeds - Yorkshire Post | JPIMedia Limited | 14,440 | N/A | N/A | |
| The Sentinel | Reach Regionals Limited | 14,351 | 17,179 | 15,442 | -16 |
| Shropshire Star | Express & Star Ltd | 13,669 | 16,118 | 13,542 | -15 |
| Aberdeen - Evening Express | Aberdeen Journals Ltd | 13,507 | 16,098 | 14,627 | -16 |
| Newcastle Chronicle | Reach Regionals Limited | 12,914 | 15,869 | 13,978 | -19 |
| Hull Daily Mail | Reach Regionals Limited | 12,798 | 15,856 | 13,559 | -19 |
| Leicester Mercury | Reach Regionals Limited | 11,409 | 13,867 | 12,316 | -18 |
| Derby Telegraph | Reach Regionals Limited | 10,583 | 12,769 | 11,373 | -17 |
| South Wales Evening Post | Reach Regionals Limited | 10,464 | 12,595 | 10,782 | -17 |
| Teesside Gazette | Reach Regionals Limited | 10,040 | 12,157 | 10,794 | -17 |
| The Scotsman | JPIMedia Limited | 10,021 | N/A | N/A | |
| Portsmouth - News & Sports Mail | JPIMedia Limited | 9,706 | 10,879 | 10,269 | -11 |
| News Letter | JPIMedia Limited | 9,505 | N/A | N/A | |
| Ipswich - East Anglian Daily Times | Archant Ltd | 9,276 | 10,938 | 9,377 | -15 |
| Birmingham Mail | Reach Regionals Limited | 9,226 | 11,676 | 9,992 | -21 |
| Southampton - Southern Daily Echo | Newsquest Media Group | 9,026 | 11,206 | 9,631 | -19 |
| Sheffield Star | JPIMedia Limited | 8,624 | 10,594 | 9,740 | -19 |
| Cardiff - South Wales Echo | Reach Regionals Limited | 8,274 | 9,951 | 8,500 | -17 |
| Dundee Evening & Weekend Telegraph | DC Thomson Media | 8,160 | 9,648 | 8,994 | -15 |
| Bournemouth - The Daily Echo | Newsquest Media Group | 7,989 | 9,589 | 8,405 | -17 |
| Plymouth - The Herald | Reach Regionals Limited | 7,903 | 10,048 | 8,492 | -21 |
| The Argus Brighton | Newsquest Media Group | 7,886 | 8,948 | 8,280 | -12 |
| Nottingham Post | Reach Regionals Limited | 7,806 | 9,719 | 8,409 | -20 |
| York - The Press | Newsquest Media Group | 7,773 | 9,792 | 8,257 | -21 |
| Bristol Post | Reach Regionals Limited | 6,833 | 9,295 | 7,337 | -26 |
| Coventry Telegraph | Reach Regionals Limited | 6,714 | 8,434 | 7,458 | -20 |
| Oxford Mail | Newsquest Media Group | 6,377 | 7,465 | 6,692 | -15 |
| Leeds - Yorkshire Evening Post | JPIMedia Limited | 5,926 | 7,845 | 6,351 | -25 |
| Swindon Advertiser | Newsquest Media Group | 5,474 | 6,859 | 6,099 | -20 |
| Lancashire Post | JPIMedia Limited | 5,345 | 6,544 | 5,907 | -18 |
| Norwich - Evening News | Archant Ltd | 4,273 | 5,200 | 4,367 | -18 |
| Cambridge News | Reach Regionals Limited | 4,202 | 5,375 | 4,599 | -22 |
| Ipswich Star | Archant Ltd | 3,716 | 4,603 | 3,789 | -19 |
| Paisley Daily Express | Media Scotland Ltd | 3,320 | 3,802 | 3,382 | -13 |
Picture: Pixabay
GMS Freelance On-Air Broadcast Correspondent, AP
Life and Trends Reporter, Newsweek
Editor/Content Manager, The Lincolnite/Stonebow Media
How and why some of these titles continue as paid for print dailies is beyond me , surely if you’ve lost your audience and popularity, as evidenced by ongoing copy sales declines, there’s no point in throwing good money after bad by carrying on carrying on is there?
I would have thought the bean counters would have stepped in and advised boards to pull the plug long ago,or do they expect there to be a sudden wind change and the public to come flocking back again?
The figures speak for themselves,it won’t happen
‘The Irish News and Shropshire Star were the only ABC-audited UK regional daily newspapers to beat their sales from the first Covid-19 lockdown in the first half of this year.’
This statement is utterly absurd. Free copies are not sales!.
You have allowed the Shropshire Star to create a fictional ‘Covid Sales’ figure then adjust their first half 2021 ‘sales’ by including 650 free copies thereby claiming they had an increase in circulation of 127.
The reality is that Shropshire Star ‘paid’ circulation has been in free-fall for 10 years and currently stands at 13,019. This kind of nonsense only goes to weaken your statistical credibility.
#FakeNews