Northern Ireland’s regional daily and Sunday newspapers experienced declines in circulation of at least 5pc in the second half of 2016 – echoing their performances in the first half of last year.
According to the latest ABC figures for the island of Ireland, four Belfast-based titles saw sales fall between 5.1pc and 9pc in the period July to December last year compared to the same period in 2015.
The Belfast Telegraph and its sister title Sunday Life remain the province’s two most-read newspapers, with circulations of 40,042 and 36,467 respectively.
The figures for Northern Ireland’s daily and Sunday newspapers in full are as follows:
| Newspaper | Average circulation Jan-Jun 2016 | Change on Jan-Jun 2016 (pc) | Y-on-Y change (pc) |
| Belfast Telegraph | 40,042 | -4.5 | -6.5 |
| Irish News | 35,073 | -2.4 | -5.1 |
| News Letter | 15,475 | -5.6 | -6.9 |
| Sunday Life | 36,467 | -4.9 | -9 |
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The Belfast Telegraph does indeed have an ABC figure of 40,000 but full price sales only account for 25,000 of that figure. The totals for The Irish News and the News Letter do not include bulks, so it would be fair to say that The Irish News deserves to be regarded as the market leader. According to the latest TGI figures, it also has the largest readership of the Northern Ireland dailies.
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