ABCs: Sunday newspaper circulations drop across the board

Every national Sunday newspaper audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulation experienced a decrease in circulation in December, according to figures released today.

The highest drop in circulation was recorded by the Scotland on Sunday, of 7.05 per cent, which saw its circulation fall from 49,114 to 45,652.

In the daily newspaper market the Guardian and the Herald were the only newspapers to record an increase in daily circulations.

The Guardian's circulation increased the most, by 1.61 per cent, taking its circulation from 226,473 in November to 230,108 in December, although it saw a dip year-on-year of 13.11 per cent.

Apart from the Herald, which recorded a 0.24 per cent rise, all other titles included in ABC's monthly audit, across daily and Sunday titles, suffered decreases in circulation, with one of the biggest drops recorded by the Independent of 6.51 per cent. This took it to an average circulation of 119,551 in December.

The Independent also recorded the largest circulation drop year-on-year in December of 31.69 per cent. Last year the number of bulk copies of the Independent distributed were dropped from 72,435 to 52,934, after the newspaper transferred a large number of copies to its sister title i.

The latest figures show the number of Independent bulk copies for December stood at 44,319.

Key figures

The first figure in each category below denotes average net circulation for December 2011.

Circulation (month-on-month change) year-on-year change

Morning papers:

Popular: 4,514,028 (-2.91) -7.01

Mid Market: 2,591,323 (-0.52) -2.39

Quality: 1,986,261 (-1.01) -0.82

Total average: 9,091,612 (-1.83) -4.42

Sunday papers:

Popular: 3,487,912 (-3.12) 56.89

Mid Market: 2,837,748 (-3.65) 1.13

Quality: 1,857,821 (-2.82) -8.87

Total average: 8,183,481 (-3.24) 15.78

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