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The Brighton Argus recorded the lowest circulation decline among regional daily newspapers over the first six months of 2018, new ABC figures show.
The Newsquest-owned title had a circulation of 10,212 at the end of June, down 2 per cent year-on-year.
The Ipswich Star, owned by Archant, saw the biggest decline during the period, falling 37 per cent year-on-year to 6,001.
Ipswich Star editor Brad Jones said: “The 37 per cent decrease year-on-year is due to us uncoupling the Ipswich Star and free Ipswich Advertiser into two products that serve the needs of our readers and advertisers in a much better way.
“The actively purchased Ipswich Star copy sales are actually down 10 per cent year on year.”
Other big drops were recorded at Reach’s Cambridge News, down 33 per cent to 8,005, and Johnston Press’ Yorkshire Evening Post, down 32 per cent to 10,332.
DC Thomson’s Aberdeen Press and Journal remains the top-selling regional daily, with a circulation of 45,935, down 7 per cent year-on-year.
Regional daily newspaper ABC figures Jan-June 2018 (print and digital edition combined):
| Publication | ABC Total | Year-on-year % change | Paid Multiple Copies | Free copies |
| Aberdeen – Press & Journal | 45,935 | -7% | 385 | |
| Express & Star (West Midlands) | 42,208 | -18% | 6,783 | |
| Manchester Evening News | 36,715 | -13% | 15,983 | |
| Belfast Telegraph | 35,931 | -9% | 2,038 | 7,059 |
| Liverpool Echo | 35,038 | -16% | 10 | 334 |
| Dundee – The Courier | 34,260 | -8% | 200 | |
| Irish News – Morning | 33,647 | -7% | 184 | |
| Norwich – Eastern Daily Press | 26,788 | -15% | ||
| The Herald | 24,265 | -12% | ||
| The Sentinel | 22,047 | -12% | 197 | |
| Hull Daily Mail | 21,813 | -14% | 41 | |
| Shropshire Star | 21,736 | -13% | 862 | |
| Leicester Mercury | 21,130 | -17% | 428 | 1,943 |
| Aberdeen – Evening Express | 21,003 | -12% | 46 | |
| Leeds – Yorkshire Post | 20,820 | -10% | 1,294 | |
| Newcastle Chronicle | 20,756 | -17% | ||
| Darlington – The Northern Echo | 20,323 | -10% | ||
| Glasgow – Evening Times | 19,130 | -15% | ||
| The Scotsman | 17,013 | -20% | 3,274 | |
| Derby Telegraph | 16,785 | -11% | 456 | 1,547 |
| South Wales Evening Post | 16,590 | -16% | 32 | |
| Teesside Gazette | 16,204 | -18% | ||
| Southend – Basildon – Canvey – Echo | 15,978 | -11% | 3 | |
| Birmingham Mail | 15,367 | -15% | ||
| Nottingham Post | 14,814 | -14% | 34 | 2,400 |
| Portsmouth – News & Sports Mail | 14,767 | -18% | ||
| Plymouth – The Herald | 13,833 | -12% | 60 | |
| Southampton – Southern Daily Echo | 13,665 | -13% | ||
| Sheffield Star | 13,658 | -14% | ||
| News Letter | 13,374 | -10% | 125 | |
| Ipswich – East Anglian Daily Times | 13,263 | -11% | ||
| The Post | 13,102 | -24% | 85 | |
| Cardiff – South Wales Echo | 12,649 | -12% | ||
| Dundee Evening & Weekend Telegraph | 12,368 | -12% | 17 | |
| York – The Press | 11,922 | -15% | 151 | |
| Bournemouth – The Daily Echo | 11,521 | -10% | ||
| Coventry Telegraph | 11,438 | -19% | ||
| Bradford – Telegraph & Argus | 11,204 | -16% | 168 | |
| Leeds – Yorkshire Evening Post | 10,322 | -32% | ||
| The Argus Brighton | 10,212 | -2% | 61 | 1,137 |
| South Wales Argus | 9,362 | -12% | 138 | 379 |
| Oxford Mail | 9,038 | -9% | 1 | |
| Dorset Echo | 8,700 | -14% | ||
| Swindon Advertiser | 8,481 | -7% | 37 | 320 |
| Lancashire Post | 8,394 | -15% | ||
| Colchester – Daily Gazette | 8,232 | -14% | 2 | |
| The Bolton News | 8,166 | -12% | ||
| Lancashire Telegraph – Blackburn | 8,149 | -23% | 466 | |
| Cambridge News | 8,005 | -33% | 339 | |
| Norwich – Evening News | 6,765 | -17% | ||
| Ipswich Star | 6,001 | -37% | 351 | |
| Worcester News | 5,995 | -13% | ||
| The Mail | 5,287 | -25% | ||
| Carlisle – News and Star East | 4,723 | -23% | ||
| Paisley Daily Express | 4,378 | -7% | ||
| Carlisle – News and Star West | 1,753 | -22% |
Picture: Wikimedia Commons
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The only thing which is keeping all four Archant titles alive now is the company-owned printing press, frankly. Even then, the cost of the 40-odd mile-journey down the A140 to Ipswich should now be enough to finish off the Star, as well as the Essex edition of the Anglian. All of this is down to the total mismanagement from senior personnel over the past five years, but do any of their heads fall? No, it’s the likes of photographers and subs instead. Is it any wonder that where I live a free, six-times-a-year magazine has more than twice the reach of the Norwich Evening News. I know that if I wanted to take a small advert I’d rather be going there than an operation where a much-respected local government reporter has to write stories such as “Greggs in Norwich is set to shut, but new one will open barely 50 metres away”. Utter drivel, but I notice that Messrs Kelly and Anglesey never tweet about this – though they do continue to promote the floundering New European. When that goes they’ve had it.
It really is shocking to see the virtual collapse of Archants four daily titles in the east with the EDP selling a pitiful 26,700 copies in a catchment area approaching a million people. As for the Ipswich titles and the Norwich morning news, they must surely be hugely at risk of closure, they’ve lost their readers and carry so little advertising there’s almost nothing to lose by doing so and with substantial cost savings to be made ,I can’t see any other viable option left open to the board other than going online as free reader editions only.
The board must also accept responsibility for sanctioning the promotions of easy to manage staff into senior positions,both editorially and commercially, just to save a few pounds,a policy which has resulted in costly losses further down the line with weak and irrelevant content, free-falling ad revenues and the dreadful figures ABC figures it’s hard to see where these troubled titles will go next.