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ABCs: Print circulation drops across the board for UK’s regional dailies

Print circulations have fallen across the board at the UK’s regional dailies – but the latest ABC figures show the pace of decline has slowed since the pandemic hit.

ABC has published data for 41 dailies for the period July to December 2021, with the results revealing no increases in paid-for print circulation when compared with same period in 2020.

However, the figures show the vast majority of newspapers to be audited recorded a lower percentage decrease in circulation than in the latter half of 2020.

Belfast-based daily the Irish News held up best over the period, recording just a 4pc drop in circulation.

Irish News 2022

The circulations of The Scotsman, Ipswich Star, East Anglian Daily Times, Belfast News Letter, Eastern Daily Press and Aberdeen Press & Journal also declined by only single-digit figures.

The comparative figures, put together by HTFP from raw data provided by ABC, include paid-for single copies, paid-for multiple copies – known colloquially as ‘bulks’ – and paid-for subscriptions.

The figures show Aberdeen daily the Press & Journal remains the UK newspaper with the highest combined print circulation when the three factors are taken into account.

Only the P&J, Irish News, Dundee Courier and Liverpool Echo now record circulations above the 20,000 mark by that metric.

We have excluded free copies from our analysis of the data as they are only recorded by five regional daily titles – the Brighton Argus, Manchester Evening News, Shropshire Star, Wolverhampton Express & Star and York Press.

Similarly, we have excluded subscriptions to digital editions from our analysis of the data as only a handful of titles recorded figures for these.

A number of daily titles are no longer registered with ABC including the Northern Echo and the Blackpool Gazette, while others such as the Newcastle Journal and Shields Gazette only publish figures covering a whole calendar year.

The full list of regional dailies in order of paid-for circulation decrease is below.

Title Jul-Dec 2021 Jul-Dec 2020 Y-o-y pc change
Irish News 24,450 25,494 -4%
The Scotsman 8,644 9,074 -5%
Ipswich Star 3,670 3,863 -5%
East Anglian Daily Times 8,902 9,428 -6%
Belfast News Letter 8,421 9,125 -8%
Eastern Daily Press 17,585 19,123 -8%
Aberdeen Press & Journal 27,632 30,387 -9%
Norwich Evening News 4,097 4,550 -10%
Oxford Mail 6,015 6,706 -10%
Bournemouth Echo 7,542 8,421 -10%
Swindon Advertiser 5,168 5,771 -10%
Dundee Courier 22,254 24,924 -11%
Shropshire Star 11,664 13,098 -11%
Yorkshire Post 12,600 14,153 -11%
Paisley Daily Express 3,010 3,387 -11%
Portsmouth News 9,109 10,272 -11%
Southern Daily Echo 8,443 9,552 -12%
Derby Telegraph 9,745 11,059 -12%
Aberdeen Evening Express 12,039 13,696 -12%
York Press 7,267 8,275 -12%
South Wales Echo 7,573 8,628 -12%
South Wales Evening Post 9,563 10,923 -12%
Cambridge News 3,917 4,485 -13%
Manchester Evening News 11,964 13,723 -13%
Brighton Argus 5,491 6,319 -13%
Stoke Sentinel 13,095 15,077 -13%
Bristol Post 6,331 7,292 -13%
Hull Daily Mail 11,621 13,399 -13%
Newcastle Chronicle 11,992 13,832 -13%
Dundee Evening Telegraph 7,315 8,441 -13%
Birmingham Mail 8,628 10,011 -14%
Liverpool Echo 20,158 23,414 -14%
Plymouth Herald 7,234 8,406 -14%
Coventry Telegraph 6,183 7,218 -14%
Sheffield Star 7,968 9,306 -14%
Leicester Mercury 10,197 12,058 -15%
Lancashire Post 4,903 5,811 -16%
Teesside Gazette 9,104 10,812 -16%
Nottingham Post 7,088 8,434 -16%
Wolverhampton Express & Star 16,320 19,524 -16%
Yorkshire Evening Post 5,274 6,762 -22%