Last week’s ABC figures showed Newsquest was the top performer among big regional publishers, the group’s editorial boss has claimed.

For the second year running, the three best performing daily titles in terms of relative circulation decline all came from the Newsquest group – the Norwich Evening News (down 5.06pc), Swindon Advertiser (-8.73pc) and Ipswich Star (-8.97pc.)

Six other daily titles in the group also achieved single-digit percentage declines – the Eastern Daily Press, Essex Echo, Brighton Argus, Dorset Echo, Oxford Mail and Worcester News.

And as previously reported, the Isle of Wight County Press maintained its position as the best-selling paid-for weekly title.

The overall circulation decline across all Newsquest titles was -10.7pc which outperformed the industry average by 3.6pc.

Editorial development director Toby Granville, pictured, put the success down to a “renewed focus” by its editors on quality print products, successful front-page redesigns and a strong team effort by editorial, commercial, newspaper sales and publishing services staff.

He said: “Just over 18 months ago, I was assigned the task of improving newspaper sales performance to ensure sustainability.

“By the end of 2024, there were 20 of our 26 daily print titles consistently experiencing single-digit percentage declines, with all our dailies overall trending towards single digit declines despite cover price increases.

“What is particularly pleasing is that alongside the improvements in the physical products our team grew digital subscriptions by 38pc and page views by 8pc last year at the same time.

“There’s more we are doing this year to improve the look and feel of the inside pages coupled with a content plan ensuring the news is local and relevant to our readers. In the meantime, I’m delighted with the effort to date made by all at Newsquest who together are ensuring our newspapers can be enjoyed by readers for many years to come!”

Writing on LinkedIn, Toby added: “The ABC audited figures for 2024 show that Newsquest was the top performer among large publishers in paid-for daily and weekly newspaper sales.

“Newsquest’s overall decline was -10.7pc which outperformed the remaining two of the “big three” and the industry average -14.7pc. Newsquest is now also officially the UK’s largest newspaper group by volume of sales.

“This is all thanks to our super-talented Editors renewed focus on high quality newspapers coupled with new attention-grabbing front-page designs led by Nancy Fallows that together along with great support from editorial, commercial and newspaper sales teams that helped to boost sales.

“Among our 200 brilliant titles, special shout-out goes to nine of Newsquest’s dailies that achieved single-digit percentage declines: Eastern Daily Press, Essex Echo, Brighton Argus, Dorset Echo, Oxford Mail, Swindon Advertiser, Norwich Evening News, Worcester News, Ipswich Star, and also Isle of Wight County Press, which retains the title of biggest-selling weekly newspaper in the UK.”