
UK national newspaper circulations fell across the board in July, new ABC figures show.
The Guardian recorded the smallest year-on-year circulation decline with a drop of five per cent to 130,484 copies.
The biggest year-on-year decline was reported by the Sunday People and Daily Star Sunday at 18 per cent.
The Sun remains the best-selling national newspaper with a circulation of 1.26m, only 100,000 copies above nearest rival the Daily Mail.
The free Metro has the largest circulation of any UK newspaper at 1.42m.
National newspaper circulations July 2019 (ABC):
Publication | Total circ. July 2019 | Year-on-year % change | Bulks |
Metro FREE | 1,424,168 | -3% | |
The Sun | 1,265,990 | -12% | 66,859 |
Daily Mail | 1,164,319 | -8% | |
The Sun on Sunday | 1,067,861 | -13% | 66,861 |
The Mail on Sunday | 978,062 | -9% | |
Evening Standard FREE | 845,840 | -5% | |
The Sunday Times | 649,908 | -11% | 51,445 |
Daily Mirror | 483,120 | -13% | |
Sunday Mirror | 399,042 | -15% | |
The Times | 376,975 | -12% | 53,455 |
The Daily Telegraph | 327,879 | -12% | |
Daily Express | 306,119 | -10% | |
Daily Star | 305,069 | -14% | |
Sunday Express | 267,268 | -10% | |
The Sunday Telegraph | 257,034 | -12% | |
i | 229,074 | -6% | 50,453 |
Daily Star – Sunday | 183,127 | -18% | |
Financial Times | 166,663 | -7% | 30,250 |
The Observer | 157,553 | -7% | |
Sunday People | 150,661 | -18% | |
The Guardian | 130,484 | -5% | |
Sunday Mail | 111,909 | -14% | |
Daily Record | 110,415 | -11% | |
Sunday Post | 95,015 | -17% | 538 |
City AM FREE | 76,804 | -11% |
It is not clear what point is intended by Steve Fual’s comment, what he believes is wrong with organisations buying the Guardian on behalf of taxpayers, or whether his presumption is substantiated by evidence. But, in any case, millions of people read it free online.
Hard-Copy retail sales = incontrovertible evidence of true readership, as far as advertisers are concerned.
The Guardian would just have to keep sacking staff and journalists if their ‘readers’ continue to think that millions of people (especially those with non-UK IP addresses) going onto their website every day to look at the latest Steve Bell on weekdays actually means anything, for the advertisers. Private Eye has been documenting (and laughing at) them on their latest millions-burning vanity project for at least the last 10-15 years!