The Independent’s new daily spin-off title, i, had an average daily circulation of 133,472 in January, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures released today.
Publishing the first set of circulation figures for the paper this morning, The Independent said its little brother sold an average of 125,702 copies at full price (20p) each day last month.
In addition, it said an average of 7,770 copies of i were supplied exclusively to British Airways and BMI each day last month as part of a bulk sale.
The Independent said that combined daily circulation in January of both the full version of The Independent and i was 318,507.
Alone, The Independent had a circulation of 185,035 last month, down 0.42 per cent year on year. However, of this total 69,986 was from bulk sales and a further 23,501 was sold abroad.
The combined Independent total represented an 82 per cent increase month on month when compared with a December ABC of 175,023 for The Independent alone.
The Independent launched i on 26 October, last year, offering itself as a concise version of the full paper.
Today’s announcement follows phase two of i‘s launch, which kicked off on 16 January supported by a TV advertising campaign and radio sponsorship spots.
The Independent said sales of i improved in February with the full price sale hitting more than 160,000 each day.
Andrew Mullins, managing director of i and The Independent, said: “Quality newspapers provide a highly valuable audience for advertisers and i‘s first ABC figures prove that our belief in quality print media has not been misplaced.
“The fact that we have been able to grow the print category without cannibalising The Independent also clearly demonstrates that there is a significant untapped market for time-poor consumers who want to read a concise, quality newspaper – and huge opportunities for advertisers to engage with them.”
Elsewhere in the national press most daily and Sunday national newspapers reported a year-on-year decline in their circulations.
However the Daily Mail uniquely managed a year on year increase, up 0.77 per cent year on year to an average of 2,136,568 copies a day.
Three national newspapers suffered a double-digit year-on-year fall in their circulation with the Daily Star Sunday suffering the biggest decline, a drop of 11.73 per cent, to a weekly average of 316,712.
The Observer suffered a similar decline, dropping 11.39 per cent year on year, to a weekly average circulation last month of 314,164.
The third double-digit drop came at The Times which averaged a daily sale of 457,250 each day last month as its circulation dipped 10.03 per cent year on year.
Full breakdown of national newspaper circulation figures for January 2011:
(title, average sale, percentage change year on year – source ABC)
National Morning Popular
- Daily Mirror 1,194,097 -2.00
- Daily Record 306,872 -5.24
- Daily Star 734,311 -5.78
- The Sun 3,001,822 -0.16
Total of average daily net circulation 5,237,102 -1.71
National Morning Mid Market
- Daily Express 639,875 -5.15
- Daily Mail 2,136,568 up 0.77 per cent
Total of average daily net circulation 639,875 -77.11
National Morning Quality
- The Daily Telegraph 651,184 -5.78
- Financial Times 383,067 -1.86
- The Herald 52,108 -6.89
- The Guardian 279,308 -7.60
- i 133,472
- The Independent 185,035 -0.42
- The Scotsman 43,362 -7.17
- The Times 457,250 -10.03
Total of average daily net circulation 2,184,786 0.20
Overall total of average daily net circulation 8,061,763 -21.76
National Morning Sporting
- Racing Post 50,263 4.77
National Sunday Popular
- Daily Star Sunday 316,712 -11.73
- News of the World 2,789,560 -6.53
- Sunday Mail 366,325 -7.29
- Sunday Mirror 1,092,816 -2.83
- The People 500,866 -6.02
Total of average Sunday net circulation 5,066,279 -6.11
National Sunday Mid Market
- Sunday Express 550,269 -5.94
- Sunday Post 317,896 -5.78
- The Mail on Sunday 1,958,083 down 4.4 per cent
Total of average Sunday net circulation 868,165 -70.77
National Sunday Quality
- Independent on Sunday 152,561 -0.92
- The Observer 314,164 -11.39
- Scotland on Sunday 56,256 -6.75
- Sunday Herald 43,084 1.01
- The Sunday Telegraph 496,128 -5.99
- The Sunday Times 1,039,371 -9.22
Total of average Sunday net circulation 2,101,564 -8.00
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