The Sunday Mirror was the only Sunday newspaper to increase its market share last week after shifting two million copies – a 5 per cent increase on the previous week, according to industry estimates.
According to Mediatel, the Sunday Mirror, which dropped its cover price to 50p, has almost doubled its circulation since its Sunday rival the News of the World closed on 12 July.
In June, the Sunday Mirror sold an estimated 1,087,796 copies, compared with the NoW’s June average of 2,667,428. On Sunday, according to Mediatel, the Sunday Mirror sold 2m copies.
The Sunday Mirror’s share of the market has now risen from 11.5 per cent in June to 29.4 per cent as of 24 July, second only to the Mail on Sunday‘s market share of 35.3 per cent.
The Mail on Sunday saw a slight dip in sales week-on-week on Sunday, according to the Mediatel figures. Mediatel had the MoS selling 2.6 million on 17 July – up 35 per cent from its June average – and 2.4m last week. The MoS also dropped its cover price to £1.
The only other popular Sunday newspaper that saw a week on week drop in circulation was the Daily Star Sunday, which fell from one million to 800,000 despite a TV advertising blitz and a free copy of OK! Extra. This was still a big improvement on its average sale for June of 305,978.
Sales of the Sunday Express and The People remained static at 700,000 and 900,000 respectively on Sunday according to the estimates, compared with average sales in June for the papers of 539,478 and 474,549 respectively.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog