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ABCs: How did your UK regional daily perform?

All the UK’s regional dailies saw circulation fall for the second successive six-month period.

Once again the best performing title across Britain in the results for the first half of 2014 – compared with the same period in 2013 – was the Irish News, whose average circulation dipped by 2.2pc.

Next in line was the Belfast Telegraph at 2.5pc down, the Dundee Evening Telegraph, down 4.7pc, the Aberdeen Press & Journal down 5.1pc and the Guernsey Press & Star, falling 5.2pc.

In England the Hull Daily Mail led the way – but even that was down 8.3pc.

The worst performing title was the South Wales Argus, falling 33.2pc – to add to a 32.2pc last time. And the Doncaster Star, Lancashire Telegraph, Bolton News and Worcester News were again in the bottom four performing titles in England – with sales down by between 25pc and 28pc.

The full list of figures for UK regionals can be seen below. Trinity Mirror’s daily titles are excluded as they are audited monthly.

   

Country                   Circulation          Change

Hull Daily Mail

35,117

-8.3%

The  News & Sports Mail, Portsmouth

27,954

-8.6%

North West Evening Mail

10,713

-8.7%

East Anglian Daily Times

20,664

-8.8%

Derby Telegraph

25,217

-9.1%

Colchester Gazette

11,706

-9.2%

Yorkshire Post

31,022

-9.2%

Eastern Daily Press

42,632

-9.7%

The Sentinel

37,481

-10.5%

Carlisle News and Star West

3,506

-10.9%

Oldham Evening Chronicle

9,837

-10.9%

The Press, York

19,643

-10.9%

Carlisle  News and Star East

8,900

-12.4%

Bradford – Telegraph & Argus

18,906

-12.6%

Darlington – The Northern Echo

30,735

-12.7%

Dorset Echo

13,267

-12.7%

Leicester Mercury

35,006

-12.9%

Nottingham Post

23,533

-13.1%

Ipswich Star

13,091

-13.2%

Lancashire Evening Post

14,902

-13.4%

Plymouth, The Herald

21,783

-13.5%

The Argus, Brighton

14,370

-13.6%

Southend/  Basildon  Echo

22,961

-14.0%

The Gazette, Blackpool

14,174

-14.2%

Norwich Evening News

11,065

-14.5%

Express & Star

77,387

-14.6%

The Post, Bristol

25,182

-14.6%

Shropshire Star

36,756

-14.7%

Shields Gazette

10,107

-15.8%

Hartlepool Mail

8,820

-16.2%

Southern Daily Echo

22,397

-16.6%

Sheffield Star

23,238

-17.2%

Yorkshire Evening Post

23,959

-17.2%

Wigan Evening Post

4,487

-17.6%

Sunderland Echo & Football Echo

20,530

-17.9%

Bournemouth – The Daily Echo

18,049

-18.0%

Swindon Advertiser

11,987

-22.7%

Oxford Mail

12,773

-22.9%

Worcester News

8,885

-25.5%

Bolton News

12,351

-28.2%

Lancashire Telegraph

13,092

-28.4%

Doncaster Star

1,026

-28.8%

Wales
South Wales Evening Post

28,477

-14.9%

South Wales Argus

13,197

-33.2%

Scotland
Dundee Evening Telegraph

19,766

-4.7%

Aberdeen Press & Journal

62,177

-5.1%

Dundee Courier & Advertiser

48,955

-6.5%

The Herald

37,728

-8.1%

Aberdeen Evening Express

34,894

-9.2%

The Scotsman

27,208

-13.2%

Edinburgh Evening News

25,908

-14.1%

Paisley Daily Express

6,477

-14.4%

Glasgow Evening Times

33,397

-14.9%

Northern Ireland
Irish News – Morning

39,935

-2.2%

Belfast Telegraph

48,014

-2.5%

Ulster – News Letter

19,314

-6.9%

Channel Islands
Guernsey Press & Star

13,704

-5.2%

Jersey Evening Post

15,607

-8.6%

31 comments

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  • August 27, 2014 at 2:00 pm
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    So despite all the initiatives that CEO’s spin through HTFP each and every week and even I think on one occasion talk of newspaper sales turning a corner, all we end up with is an even bigger oh dear!

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  • August 27, 2014 at 2:33 pm
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    Much of this is due to the massive price increases by Newsquest. If you do some sums, you can see the folly. 17,000 copies at 45p equals £7,650; 12,000 times 65p equals £7,800. But, with such a fall in circulation, advertisers see far less value.

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  • August 27, 2014 at 2:33 pm
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    Yikes!
    If some of these MDs & editors were football managers ….

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  • August 27, 2014 at 2:35 pm
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    Sad to see these figures which are more proof, if it were needed, that provincial daily papers are nearing the end of the line. Losing three quarters of your readership in a decade – as some have – can’t be just elderly, traditional newspaper readers dying off. It’s obviously a sea change in consumer habits which means fewer local people want or need these publications. The internet must be one way forward but there still hasn’t been a breakthrough idea yet that will transform the fortunes of these papers economically….at least sufficiently for them to hold onto their most talented staff and, subsequently, their quality.

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  • August 27, 2014 at 2:45 pm
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    Any stats for The Citizen (Gloucester) and the Gloucestershire Echo (Cheltenham)? Both Local World but mysteriously absent.

    Shocking figures again, surely the Worcester News is destined for weeklyville in the very near future?

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  • August 27, 2014 at 3:12 pm
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    Has the Western Morning News disappeared off the radar? Won’t be long before it does if you take a look at the Sunday edition’s woeful sales performance…

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  • August 27, 2014 at 3:26 pm
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    Blimey! Oxford Mail circulation down 22 per cent to 12.7k daily. Fifteen years ago, when I was there, the paper was selling between 25k to 30k daily. Shocking stats.

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  • August 27, 2014 at 3:56 pm
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    It’s not really a sea change in people’s habits thought is it when the Newsquest figures clearly show that sales are very price sensitive?

    People are not daft, they can see that regional newspapers are losing quality.

    However, management at regional newspapers seem oblivious to the connection between quality and sales, they’re the real dafties.

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  • August 27, 2014 at 5:35 pm
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    So depressing to see once great regional papers like the Nottingham Post (23,533) and the Brighton Argus (once selling about 116,000 as Evening Argus now only 14,370) down a massive 13 per cent. Cities like them deserve a daily paper but readers have sussed they are short of staff and quality and deserted them in droves. Just damned annoying and
    probably preventable, digital revolution or not. Certainly not down to staff.
    Just hope they can hang on, but figures do not look promising.
    Message to Newsquest JP Trinity et al. Readers are not the mugs you take them for!!

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  • August 27, 2014 at 6:23 pm
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    Figures for both daily and weeklies are truly miserable, but sadly not surprising (whether you try to hide them or not).

    People at the top must take full responsibility. They are the ones who in their shortsighted, desperate or downright pointless actions to make digital work, have brought many companies to the edge of the abyss. They have consistantly terminated talented hard-working staff, and demoralised those left, in most cases resulting in an ever-poorer end product.

    When will MDs and Chief Execs get it into their skulls… readers are not stupid, this is proved by these figures (and we know how much MDs love figures), they’re are leaving in droves. If this was any other business, these head honchos would be history with such results.

    The internet may be the future but to date it’s an uncertain one, no-one can get it to make as much money as print used to do.

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  • August 27, 2014 at 6:52 pm
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    Isnt the solution for papers like the Brighton Argus to concentrate solely on their city coverage and stop pretending to be a county paper (regional if you prefer). On a return visit to Sussex in June I bought a copy. It is only one edition a day and very thin indeed on anything beyond Brighton. The newsagent told me they once had superb coverage across East and West Sussex.
    Surely there is a demand in cities like Brighton. I am sure they can do better than 14,000 in a local area of maybe 350,000 people. The same applies to other mostly city papers.

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  • August 27, 2014 at 9:52 pm
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    Would be interesting to see MDs’ bonuses published alongside these figures.

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  • August 27, 2014 at 10:19 pm
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    The people at the top in England are not idiots, it’s just that they want to make a fast buck.
    They don’t care about community, newspaper democracy, public service or anything like that. They are in the business only long enough to fill up their bankbooks (is that a crime?). It’s naked, raw capitalism.
    Nevertheless, they can’t take all the blame. Print circulations are falling all over the western world. Are their managements all idiots also?
    I don’t think so.

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  • August 28, 2014 at 11:07 am
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    Take away bulk, discounted and free newspapers then the ABC figures for Belfast Telegraph (Jan-Jun 2014) reports daily average paid at full price sales at 31,271
    http://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/19226909.pdf
    Irish News (Jan-Jun 2014) reports daily average paid at full price sales at 39,731
    http://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/19228231.pdf
    News Letter (Jan-Jun 2014) reports daily average paid at full price sales at 18,703
    http://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/19230133.pdf
    Sunday Life (Jan-Jun 2014) reports weekly average paid at full price sales at 43,440
    http://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/19256609.pdf
    Sunday World NI edition (Jan-Jun 2014) reports weekly average paid at full price sales at 51,832
    http://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/47029369.pdf
    These are better figures for a true reflection on how the market stands in Northern Ireland.
    Those interested should go to the ABC site and download the pdfs of those newspapers your are interested in and see the fuller picture.

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  • August 28, 2014 at 11:14 am
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    A bit of realism there, Jupiter.
    Regional press management is never going to attract (or keep) dynamic, creative entrepreneurs now the damage is done. Instead we’re talking here about people who are good at managing decline. Their skill set revolves around the ability to wring some shareholder pennies out of it – that’s what they get the salaries, bonuses and big cars for, not launching products or growing existing ones.
    There is more (one of their favourite words coming) synergy with the bargain basement end of the care home industry or the people running NHS hospital catering budgets than those turning out the latest tablets and phones.
    You don’t need to carry a lot of highly talented (expensive) people beneath you to manage decline, just set the bars, focus on cost control most of all, and keep it sustainable for as long as possible.
    The rest is all smokescreens and mirrors.

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  • August 28, 2014 at 11:20 am
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    Jupiter. Yes, print circulations are falling all over the world. All for the same reason; the chase for digital bucks. I know for a fact some bosses have told staff they expected to lose newspaper sales but were not too worried because it was digital first. Huge problem: After years of trying Web advertising is simply not making enough money, that’s why JP etc boast about percentage hits increase but never reveal how much money comes in. Jobs are stake as the media industry is at the crossroads financially. Good luck with your multi media platforms folks.

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  • August 28, 2014 at 2:48 pm
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    The worry is that the latest bred of company hedgehogs are only following the same patterns and moulding the same patterns for regionals that are still doing well. Ours isn’t on the list but is now into the spiral, but there is pleasure ‘above’ at the ‘enhanced digital revenue streams.’
    They’re up to £400 a month….

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  • August 28, 2014 at 3:55 pm
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    It’s interesting that publishing news online is usually seen as the reason behind falls in print circulation – the assumption being that people are reading news online.

    I’ve just looked at the figures for the Leicester Mercury: selling 35,000 copies a day and with 49,000 unique users online, giving a daily total of 84,000 max. I remember when I used to deliver it in the 1970s it always carried the ABC figure in every issue: 175,000 copies a day: so the Mercury is now reaching only half the number of people it used to do.

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  • August 28, 2014 at 4:31 pm
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    It’s all smoke and mirrors, as someone else has said. Print is a natural medium for advertisers as the reader turns from page to page with ease. Digital advertising has no such advantage and has the added disadvantage for those of us with a modicum of intelligent for appearing like spam. None of this is remotely heartening

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  • August 28, 2014 at 5:28 pm
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    How the Bel Tel gets away with their ludicrous figures is a mystery. There’s more padding than a mattress factory.
    According to the latest ABC breakdowns, they’re giving away almost 40%! Wow.

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  • August 28, 2014 at 8:11 pm
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    Surprised the Carlisle News and Star West hasn’t dropped further. The paper is a shadow of its former self. The paper is getting thinner and is the content of the stories. Where are the campaigns?

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  • August 29, 2014 at 10:08 am
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    Let’s face it folks…a lot of the dailies should have become weeklies eons ago. Look around , youngsters…traditionally newspaper buyers of the future..are on their mobiles tablets etc 24/7 and primarily interested in music, games and porn…all free on the web. What’s in a regional to reel them in? Naff all. News? BBC website. The halcyon days of one regional fits all is long gone. Who gives a toss about ‘plastic bag dumped in hedge’ or ‘fire brigade puts out frying pan blaze’?….aghhhh

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  • August 29, 2014 at 4:49 pm
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    So no figures at all for my former newspaper the Cambridge News that was 5 editions when I took over in November 2004 and was there until 2008
    I am proud to say that during that time I led a team of first class journalists to many awards, including regional newspaper of the year, scoop of the year, front page of the year, feature writer of the year and in the Newspaper Society awards magazine of the year.
    Despite all this, we got no support from the company in terms of marketing. Regularly I went to news agents to ask them to take down bills that were weeks old. Our delivery was a joke and more effort went into the free papers that the paid for evening. All so they could play the game of so-called guaranteed free deliveries.
    I left after a series of redundancies whn it became clear we could never put together the same sort of papers that won us so many awards. I left behind a team of real talent – many of which have since, or are now, leaving.
    I can’t blame them when their employer things the future is to fill papers with Press releases. Where is the talent in that? In fact, Mr Montgomery, I could train a monkey to do that faster than you can lose your investors millions in the news groups you have bought falling through the floor.
    Things need to be said,
    I ashamed to say, I walked out on papers and I see not future for them.
    For those still there, I hope I am wrong.
    Murray Morse
    Former Editor Cambridge Evening News and Editor in Chief of the Daily and Sunday Sport

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  • August 31, 2014 at 12:39 am
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    Newspapers are one-dimensional and carry old news unless they run exclusives – which the staff don’t get time to work on because they are typing out press releases verbatim in the office.

    But above all, you’ve got to face facts, people don’t care about ‘local’ news like they used to. They now have the world at their fingertips, on mobile, on computer, on TV, it’s no longer big news to them if Mr Potts from round the corner has an overhanging hedge.

    People are disengaged with politics, especially at a local level. If papers had young staffs they’d be more in touch but the staffs are generally ageing hangers-on who can’t get employment elsewhere because they are so set in their traditional ways. Too many dinosaurs.

    Hyperlocal killed papers even more. If people are turning off local news, why narrow the field? It should have gone the other way, papers should have expanded and reinvented themselves.

    Sadly, there has been a lack of creativity, innovation and guts across the industry.

    But that’s life, things move on. Journalists can now reach more people than ever if they wake up to that fact. Innovators will make themselves a little self-employed business and enjoy the ride.

    The rest of you, turn the lights off on the way out…

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  • September 1, 2014 at 11:03 am
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    I wish my local had dinosaurs Get with it. Knew their patches inside out, could knock out a page lead in half the time it takes a kid, and imparted depth to stories. the wisest left as the rot set in.
    How many kids Bring in a story to the office. Just sit there waiting for e mails handouts and tweets. Some good youngsters around but wasted in this environment of fill it up quick and cheap.

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  • September 1, 2014 at 3:59 pm
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    “Roger Jones
    August 27, 2014 at 2:33 pm
    Much of this is due to the massive price increases by Newsquest. If you do some sums, you can see the folly. 17,000 copies at 45p equals £7,650; 12,000 times 65p equals £7,800. But, with such a fall in circulation, advertisers see far less value.”

    Too simplistic Roger. By your own calculations if the circulation goes down 25 per cent the publishers subsequently reduce huge swathes of costs by 25 per cent in terms of paper, print, distribution etc – and that does not include staffing.
    Profits take a major upsurge.
    A look at many of these titles shows very little advertising in them anyway. Cover price revenue and reduced costs can be more important than advertising in daily titles.

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  • September 1, 2014 at 8:57 pm
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    Sadly.Get with It does have a point;insomuch that generally people are not as community minded; the latest technological innovation,the next holiday, new car,latest white goods etc…have taken the place of local fetes, Lord Mayors Parade ,neighbourhood galas.
    I wonder how many know the names of their next door neighbours,or even those who live opposite them…………….
    Society now seems to be very insular…..and who cares what happens down the road,as long as they can get a good deal on a Ipad,or latest wine offer……..

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  • September 2, 2014 at 5:14 pm
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    Fair few cliches Get With It but not many suggestions (not that I have many myself) May be all very fan-dabby-dozy being innovative and reaching more people than ever before, but having squillions of Facebook fans and Twitter followers or whatever won’t make money to pay journalists’ wages.Which as others have said is the conundrum no one has the answer to

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  • September 4, 2014 at 10:21 am
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    The game has changed, the future is digital tied to a print product for those that prefer it. There are ways to monetize journalism, it just needs to be innovative and brave in a different way – which is what got those huge print numbers before.

    Flogging yourself to death over declining print numbers it a bit like watching the flame on a candle burn out when you are stood next to a light switch. Plenty to be excited about in regional journalism, we are about to enter the next phase of huge reach, profitability and relevance tied to quality output. I’m glad to be a part of it.

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  • September 4, 2014 at 11:45 am
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    “There are ways to monetize journalism, it just needs to be innovative and brave in a different way”

    Hmmm, so why haven’t any of the brilliant, highly paid individuals who run our companies come up with any yet?

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