The latest national newspaper circulation figures show print sales took a hit during the lockdown imposed by the UK Government, but the impact is not as severe as it might have been.
The Financial Times and the i paper saw the biggest decline from March (pre-lockdown) to April, although this might partly be explained by the fact that both have strong digital offerings.
Under changes brought into force by ABC from today, News UK, publisher of the Sun and Times titles, has opted to keep its circulation data private and will now only share it, in confidence, with agencies.
It is the only major news publisher to have chosen this approach so far.
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The Telegraph pulled out of ABC auditing at the start of the year. City AM has suspended publication of its print edition during the lockdown and therefore is not included in the latest data release.
ABC is using what it calls “Covid-19 reporting” rules to cover circulation figures under the lockdown, which it says are atypical and therefore drawing an exact comparison with pre-crisis figures is not possible.
The figures for April include the final week of March.
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National newsbrand circulations in April 2020 (ABC):
| Publication | ABC total for April (from start of lockdown) | ABC total for March (2-22) 2020 | % change month-on-month |
| Metro FREE | 398,787 | 1,326,213 | -70% |
| The Sun | Private | 1,210,915 | |
| Daily Mail | 944,981 | 1,132,908 | -17% |
| The Sun on Sunday | Private | 1,013,777 | |
| The Mail on Sunday | 836,743 | 952,914 | -12% |
| Evening Standard FREE | 423,285 | 700,191 | -40% |
| The Sunday Times | Private | 647,622 | |
| Daily Mirror | 363,082 | 442,610 | -18% |
| The Times | Private | 365,880 | |
| Sunday Mirror | 303,747 | 354,375 | -14% |
| Daily Express | 234,373 | 289,393 | -19% |
| Daily Star | 219,275 | 276,453 | -21% |
| Sunday Express | 217,915 | 252,118 | -14% |
| i | 134,553 | 215,640 | -38% |
| Daily Star – Sunday | 144,251 | 163,695 | -12% |
| The Observer | 129,415 | 156,174 | -17% |
| Financial Times | 88,756 | 146,373 | -39% |
| Sunday People | 118,026 | 134,931 | -13% |
| The Guardian | 106,003 | 129,961 | -18% |
| Sunday Mail | 91,099 | 104,608 | -13% |
| Daily Record | 87,551 | 102,906 | -15% |
| Sunday Post | 73,959 | 84,607 | -13% |
Picture: Reuters/Toby Melville
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