Only one paid-for weekly title has seen an increase in sales in the first half of 2014 compared with the same period last year.
The Herald and Times Group’s Sunday Herald takes the plaudits for the UK’s best performer with a one per cent rise in circulation for the six-month period up to the end of June.
Around 100 titles, mainly from Johnston Press and Local World, have changed from six-monthly to annual audits for the ABC – so their figures do not appear.
| County | Sales | Paid/Free | Change |
|
|
|
|
|
| Bedfordshire |
|
|
|
| Bedford Borough Times & Citizen |
63,830 |
Free |
-0.4% |
| Herald & Post – Luton & Dunstable |
74,391 |
Free |
-0.3% |
| Mid Beds Times & Citizen |
17,568 |
Free |
0.3% |
| Buckinghamshire |
|
|
|
| Milton Keynes Citizen |
94,844 |
Free |
0.3% |
| Cambridgeshire |
|
|
|
| Cambs Times |
12,364 |
Free |
-1.3% |
| Ely Standard |
5,887 |
Free |
-2.8% |
| Hunts Post |
40,383 |
Free |
-0.2% |
| Royston Crow |
12,359 |
Free |
-0.7% |
| Wisbech Standard |
10,096 |
Free |
-2.7% |
| Cheshire |
|
|
|
| The Advertiser South Manchester |
70,606 |
Free |
96.0% |
| Warrington Midweek |
23,496 |
Free |
-46.3% |
| Cleveland |
|
|
|
| East Cleveland Herald & Post |
18,071 |
Free |
-29.9% |
| Middlesbrough Herald & Post |
20,357 |
Free |
-33.2% |
| Stockton & Billingham Herald & Post |
36,868 |
Free |
-28.1% |
| Cumbria |
|
|
|
| Cumberland & Westmorland Herald |
15,047 |
Paid |
-4.3% |
| South Lakes and North Lancs Citizen |
9,038 |
Free |
-48.2% |
| Durham |
|
|
|
| Darlington Aycliffe and Sedgefield Advertiser |
43,867 |
Free |
-4.6% |
| Essex |
|
|
|
| Dunmow Broadcast |
12,504 |
Free |
0.8% |
| Saffron Walden Reporter |
16,801 |
Free |
1.6% |
| Hampshire |
|
|
|
| New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times |
18,048 |
Paid |
-5.9% |
| Hereford & Worcestershire |
|
|
|
| Bromsgrove Standard |
31,556 |
Free |
-2.4% |
| Evesham Observer |
13,714 |
Free |
-16.0% |
| Redditch Standard |
38,426 |
Free |
-4.6% |
| Worcester Observer |
46,378 |
Free |
53.3% |
| Hertfordshire |
|
|
|
| The Herts Advertiser – St Albans & Harpenden Edition |
40,176 |
Free |
-0.5% |
| Hitchin Comet |
17,984 |
Free |
-1.8% |
| Letchworth GC & Baldock Comet |
20,450 |
Free |
2.1% |
| Stevenage Comet |
30,907 |
Free |
-0.3% |
| Welwyn Hatfield Times |
9,466 |
Paid |
-16.1% |
| Isle of Wight |
|
|
|
| Isle of Wight County Press |
28,852 |
Paid |
-6.7% |
| Kent |
|
|
|
| Dover Express |
5,913 |
Paid |
-12.0% |
| Folkestone Herald.co.uk |
17,597 |
Paid |
-23.1% |
| Times (Faversham, Whitstable & Herne Bay and Canterbury) |
Certificate Pending |
|
|
| Leicestershire |
|
|
|
| Coalville Times |
Certificate Pending |
|
|
| Lincolnshire |
|
|
|
| Boston Target |
8,872 |
Paid |
-41.6% |
| East Lindsey Target |
11,068 |
Free |
-25.1% |
| Sleaford Target |
3,592 |
Paid |
-69.1% |
| London & Greater London |
|
|
|
| Absolutely – Notting Hill/Kensington |
37,639 |
Free |
|
| Ealing & Acton Gazette |
41317 |
Free |
-17.9% |
| Hounslow Chronicle |
34859 |
Free |
-17.5% |
| The London Magazine |
83,084 |
Free |
|
| Mayfair Times |
20753 |
Free |
|
| Uxbridge & West Drayton Gazette |
37,753 |
Free |
299.1% |
| Manchester & Greater Manchester |
|
|
|
| Bolton Journal |
19,132 |
Free |
-39.4% |
| Bury Journal |
9,361 |
Free |
-61.1% |
| Oldham Advertiser |
23,713 |
Free |
-59.5% |
| Merseyside |
|
|
|
| Champion |
163,067 |
Free |
0.0% |
| Wirral News |
59,409 |
Free |
107.2% |
| Norfolk |
|
|
|
| The Advertiser – Norwich Edition |
49,682 |
Free |
-4.9% |
| The Advertiser – Yarmouth Edition |
42,419 |
Free |
0.0% |
| Beccles & Bungay Journal |
5,133 |
Paid |
-4.4% |
| Dereham & Fakenham Times |
5,639 |
Paid |
-5.8% |
| Diss Mercury |
15,193 |
Free |
0.8% |
| Great Yarmouth Mercury |
13,513 |
Paid |
-2.2% |
| North Norfolk News |
5,963 |
Paid |
-3.0% |
| Thetford & Watton Times |
18,786 |
Free |
0.5% |
| Wymondham & Attleborough Mercury |
13,694 |
Free |
-0.5% |
| Shropshire |
|
|
|
| Bridgnorth Journal |
6,307 |
Paid |
-4.3% |
| Newport Advertiser |
5,935 |
Paid |
-6.6% |
| Oswestry and Border Chronicle |
11,239 |
Free |
-1.7% |
| Shrewsbury Chronicle |
32,566 |
Free |
-1.7% |
| South Shropshire Journal |
6,419 |
Paid |
-2.2% |
| Telford Journal |
40,827 |
Free |
-1.8% |
| Staffordshire |
|
|
|
| Cannock Chronicle |
53,669 |
Free |
0.9% |
| Suffolk |
|
|
|
| The Advertiser – Waveney Edition |
44,558 |
Free |
0.7% |
| Bury St Edmunds Mercury |
22,912 |
Free |
-0.2% |
| Coastal Scene |
9,963 |
Free |
-2.8% |
| Lowestoft Journal |
12,679 |
Paid |
-4.6% |
| Stowmarket Mercury |
12,114 |
Free |
2.1% |
| Sudbury Mercury |
13,400 |
Free |
-1.7% |
| Sussex (West) |
|
|
|
| Crawley News.co.uk |
15,436 |
Free |
-37.3% |
| East Grinstead Courier.co.uk |
4,158 |
Paid |
-57.2% |
| Warwickshire |
|
|
|
| Leamington Spa Observer |
23,047 |
Free |
-16.8% |
| Rugby Observer |
26,780 |
Free |
-13.4% |
| Stratford upon Avon Observer |
12,976 |
Free |
-13.6% |
| West Midlands |
|
|
|
| Coventry Observer |
51,091 |
Free |
-12.6% |
| The Coventry Times |
35,197 |
Free |
-47.1% |
| Dudley Chronicle |
35,451 |
Free |
-1.3% |
| Halesowen Chronicle |
27,901 |
Free |
-0.6% |
| Sandwell Chronicle |
44,916 |
Free |
0.8% |
| Solihull Observer |
53,365 |
Free |
-1.2% |
| Stourbridge Chronicle |
37,614 |
Free |
-1.4% |
| Walsall Chronicle |
45,198 |
Free |
-5.8% |
| Wolverhampton Chronicle |
47,863 |
Free |
-1.1% |
| Yorkshire (South) |
|
|
|
| Dearne Valley Weekender |
55,630 |
Free |
2.4% |
| Rotherham & South Yorkshire Advertiser |
23,539 |
Paid |
-5.5% |
| Rotherham Record |
63,816 |
Free |
6.6% |
| Northern Ireland |
|
|
|
| Banbridge Chronicle |
3,737 |
Paid |
-3.8% |
| Newry Reporter |
9,437 |
Paid |
-4.1% |
| Sunday Life |
44,155 |
Paid |
-3.5% |
| Scotland |
|
|
|
| Aberdeen Citizen |
52,853 |
Free |
-0.1% |
| The Orcadian |
8,348 |
Paid |
|
| Scotland on Sunday |
30,297 |
Paid |
-19.0% |
| Sunday Herald |
25,125 |
Paid |
1.0% |
| West Highland Free Press |
7,410 |
Paid |
-2.1% |
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Its maybe a good job JP have bottled the weekly ABCs, if their daily figures are anything to go by.
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Really sad to see just how many papers have decided to keep quiet about their sales figures by only revealing them once a year. And, no doubt, when ABC do publish the figures we’ll only hear how well everyone is doing with online readers…..who, if they are like me, don’t even notice the ads on the websites….I’d never advertise in this way!
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I see the figures for JP’s dailies turned weeklies are still covered by the Official Secrets Act.
One can only imagine the horrible results of the experiments they carried out in those places, many of them now discount supermarkets and betting shops?
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JP presumably expect MPs NHS Trusts Cops to reveal stats to what few journos they have left.
Yet they sit on one of the most interesting sets of stats about themselves.
Still, I can understand they do not want advertisers knowing that fewer and fewer people are reading their paper ads because JP put up their prices, cut staff, and reduced quality. Result- massive sales drops.
Meanwhile we are led to believe by bosses that they are making shedloads more dosh from web advertising. Hmm!
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JP simply dont want advertisers to know their paper ads are seen by fewer and fewer people because of plunging sales. You cant blame them for that, tactically.
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Is that East Grinstead Courier figure a record. minus 57 per cent!
What happened?
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E Grinstead probably like the Lincolnshire figures – they’ve all gone from free to being paid-for
Why no figures for the Welsh weeklies?
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What about Surrey?
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The decline in the weeklies is a lot less than in the dailies. Maybe there is a clue here for all regional dailies!
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Nothing for Devon?
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No papers mentioned from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset or Somerset. Did the results get washed away with the railway line at Dawlish
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So Observer50 wouldn’t advertise online? In our region we have many businesses advertising on our newspaper websites, in all sorts of clever and targeted ways, and generating good results. I know because I’ve talked to them and written about them. It’s a good job Observer50 doesn’t run his own business. You can’t ignore the fact that a lot of people use the internet these days. It might even catch on.
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Very little from Kent as well – nothing from the KM Group who are probably keeping mum about their fast declining figures as well.
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Spindrifter…if I want a plumber I Google for one. Loads in my area come up. No need to subscribe to my local weekly’s online service (which doesn’t have any plumbers anyway).
Furthermore, the local weekly’s newspaper classifieds section only has one or two plumbers in its columns.
Yes, the Internet is taking off, but not as you imagined.
An electrician tells me he was approached to advertise online at costs so low he smelled a rat. When he checked with his local chamber of trade, he was told by other tradespeople that they had advertised, but found out that their adverts had been put in the newspaper group’s weeklies 50 miles away!
Unfortunately, there are many teething problems still to be overcome.
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Come on spindrifter, tell us what percentage of your total advertising revenue is web? Digital is indeed the future, but it will be a much smaller operation with a lot fewer staff. Look forward to the brave new world.
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