Just three regional daily papers have recorded increased in circulation in the latest set of ABC figures for the industry.
Dundee-based daily the Evening Telegraph saw a rise in sales of 3.4pc year-on-year in the figures for July to December 2010, which have been published today, taking it to 23,331.
This comes after the DC Thomson title was the only one to record an increase when the last set of figures were published, seeing its sales rise 0.4pc for the first half of 2010.
And Archant Norfolk’s two daily newspapers, the Eastern Daily Press and the Evening News both saw circulation rises, of 0.4pc and 0.5pc respectively.
But the majority of regional dailies saw falls in circulation during the period, with some seeing double digit decreases.
These included a fall of 14.8pc at the Doncaster Star, the lowest of any regional daily, meaning its average sales fell to just 2,485.
Titles which saw significant circulation falls included the Liverpool Daily Post and Cambridge News, both with decreases of 13.2pc compared to the same period last year.
But the Daily Post has slowed its circulation decline, which fell 28pc in the first half of the year – the biggest decrease of all the regional dailies when the last figures were published.
And other newspapers which had sales falls of more than 10pc were the Yorkshire Evening Post at 12.7pc, Carlisle’s News and Star west edition at 12.6pc, the Lancashire Evening Post at 11.9pc, the Nottingham Post at 11.6pc and the Western Daily Press at 10.9pc.
Regional dailies which fared better than most in the second half of 2010 included the Liverpool Echo, whose sales fell just 1.5pc, the Burton Mail down 2.1pc and the Scarborough Evening News, which was down 2.3pc.
And the Wolverhampton-based Express & Star, the UK’s biggest-selling regional daily, only saw its sales fall by 2.8pc, taking its average circulation to 116,992.
Archant chief executive Adrian Jeakings said: “Last year I issued a challenge to our senior managers to halt the decline in newspaper circulation and indeed get them growing again.
“This is against steady falls in circulation for much of the industry in the last few years.
“I am delighted to say that two of our daily papers grew their circulation in the second half of 2010. Also, more than half of our weekly titles were showing year-on-year growth. These results are extraordinary – a remarkable performance.”
The figures for Northern Ireland were published last week and showed the Belfast Telegraph had a circulation fall of 11.7pc.
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For anybody who has been in the Industry more than 10 yrs the new lows for some of these titles is almost, only alomost, beyond belief. I can’t help thinking that lower quality and overnight printing, all seemed necessary in the light of the advert revenue colapse,have now created a run away train of disaster for many titles. Weekly will be the future for many until the quality is cut again.
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How low will these pathetic sales have to go before publishers open their eyes? Newspapers are dying out. In 10 years they will be shadows of what they are even now and there will be no money at all coming in. The future is digital yet pitiful resources are put in to the web and mobile market at a local level. Sort it out or there’ll be nothing left to save.
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So many years ago the talk was that the internet was going to be huge re: the media. In my honest opinion, newspapers print too much on their websites. The public don’t have to buy a newspaper any more. It’s not as if the websites are making the money the papers were or would, is it? Why should I go out and buy a paper when I can see it for free on the press of a button or two?
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Interesting in that the Dundee Evening Telegraph is one of the few papers sensible enough to not just give away its stories on the internet. Its website is just the first line of copy then “For the full story, buy today’s paper”. Who would’ve thought that NOT blindly jumping on the internet bandwagon in a panic and giving the planet all your content for free might actually pay off?
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Point prove M’Lord?
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Point proven M’Lord? (Since retirement forgot to sub first message)
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