October: Times powers on but has The Guardian peaked too soon?

By Dominic Ponsford

All
eyes are still on The Guardian following its 12 September relaunch in
Berliner format and the ABC figures for October suggest sales have
already peaked following that change.

In October, the first full
month as a Berliner and the first national in full colour, the Guardian
sold an average of 403,297: a healthy 6.57 per cent up year-on-year,
but 0.22 per cent down on the month before.

Considering the
Berliner re-launch was accompanied by the biggest marketing campaign in
the paper’s history – management at Guardian newspapers might have
hoped for a bigger boost in October.

The figure keeps the Guardian back above its historic circulation benchmark of 400,000 which it slipped below in March 2003.

The
Times achieved even bigger year-on-year growth than The Guardian even
though it is now two years since it brought out a tabloid version.

It
broke through the 700,000 barrier with a year-on-year sales boost of
7.16 per cent giving the paper its biggest sale since June 2002.

There
is also cause for celebration at The Independent where sales for
October grew to a new peak for its tabloid era, up 0.38 per cent
year-on-year to 267,037.

Overall, the quality newspaper market
grew by 1.53 per cent compared to a 5.07 per cent drop year-on-year for
the mid-market daily titles and a 3.43 per cent drop for the redtop
dailies.

The Independent on Sunday was another paper to feel the
benefits of a format change. It relaunched as a tabloid on October 16,
half way through the audit period, and enjoyed year-on-year growth of
7.34 per cent to 230,053.

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