List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation

[dipsydoodle]

Posted out of interest now that January's figures are included. There is always a lag because the bang up to date stuff is strictly for the use of advertisers who pay for that info - same applies to info on US newspapers.

NB It is necessary for the figures which relate to the Independent and the "i" to be added together due to changes in their marketing policy causing a transition from one to the other.

Main beneficiary of the demise of the NOWT looks to be The People.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_circulation

[LeftishBrit]

1. That list pretty much explains a lot that's wrong with our country

and also contradicts the right-wing American view that we're dominated by the evil Guardian. If only!

At least we've got the BBC!

[oldironside]

2. Thankfully...

... Mr Murdoch is having a little local difficulty at the moment, so the Beeb looks safe-ish. But if he weren't...

[Ken Burch]

8. The Guardian's circulation has declined massively since 2009, according to those figures

Is that because people are still mad at its editors for endorsing the LibDems in the last election?

[tjwmason]

9. It's just a suspicion

But I know lots of people who read The Guardian online - I wonder whether it's more a case of readership moving from hard-copy to on-line rather than of people stopping reading it.

In general, the sense I get is that The Guardian and The Telegraph have a stronger on-line presence than The Times or The Independent.

[T_i_B]

11. I think that is an element of it

Lots of people read it online, and I for one am not in any hurry to stump up the coins to buy any newspaper at the moment.

Also, the Guardian may be left wing, but it's still quite borgouis, preferring to focus on lifestyle issues and not focussing enough on the economic factors that are having a much bigger impact on people's lives then either Richard Dawkins or gay marriage.

[LeftishBrit]

13. Actually, as far as I can see...

the papers that are most obsessed with gay marriage and Richard Dawkins are the Torygraph and the Daily Mail, who seem to rank these issues in their demonology a bit below the top demons of the EU, immigrants, trade unions and the welfare state, but somewhere in the next layer along with comprehensive schools, 'political correctness' and single parents. Oh, and President Obama at the moment. In the past, the Tory media was usually pro-American but not specifically Republican; now they seem obsessed with how that evil liberal may be luring our Prime Minister from the Right path.

I think all newspapers are somewhat bourgeois; this is an inevitable consequence of the fact that only better-off people are likely to spend money on the luxury of a daily paper. And free newspapers are, of course, funded by advertising, so they're not likely to lean to the economic left.

[dipsydoodle]

10. Partly ergonomics and partly other reasons

Tabloids are easier to hold and read than a broadsheet. Back in the eighties I had many friends in the print and I recall discussing the economics of production and distribution costs. Even then the cover prices were not covering those : the public were not buying our newspapers for news and political leanings as such - more for general articles etc , and the profitability lay in advertising. As such to the buying public , aside from maybe the south east of England, the Guardian being left is as meaningless as the Express being right.

Newspapers with the highest sales maintain what is almost a self fulfilled prophesy with regard to advertising revenue. That may help explain the Independent's strategy with regard to splitting off sales to the "i" whose combines sales / distribution have increased : not diminished.

With regard to the Guardian there is an observation here :

For the 190-year-old Guardian, whose parent company posted a 58.6 million-pound ($97 million) operating loss last year, the figures are a fresh source of doubt over the financial viability of a respected combination of analysis, exclusive reporting and nimble digital operations. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Miller said in June that the newspaper, which also led coverage of the WikiLeaks disclosure of classified U.S. diplomatic cables, may run out of cash in three to five years without a reorganization.

“These investigative stories are very expensive and really don’t have much impact on the trajectory of the business,” said Douglas McCabe, a media analyst at Enders Analysis in London. “All this may do is slow the decline temporarily.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-17/guardian-loses-readers-even-after-bringing-down-murdoch-tabloid.html

Its not for me to praise or condone the policies the Guardian have pursued but maybe they've got it wrong and have suffered as a result. Declining sales may cause more advertisers to drop them and further accelerate their demise.

[geardaddy]

3. I love how you used the acronym NOWT.

nowt. hehe.

[dipsydoodle]

7. I often make that mistake when searching

and am then surprised with the drivel I come up with.

[fedsron2us]

4. The figures show that all the daily newspapers apart from the 'I' are in terminal decline.

[LeftishBrit]

12. I think this is fairly inevitable...

due to the rise of the Internet, a source not only of online newspapers but lots of information in general; and also due to the recession- if people are feeling squeezed, or worse, seriously worried about paying the rent, a daily paper is not likely to be one of the top priorities.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Mirror and Daily Star Sunday both did better than The People

--------------------2012--------2011---
Daily Star Sunday 599,078 316,712
Sunday Mirror 1,594,293 1,092,816
The People 701,246 500,866

[dipsydoodle]

6. yes my mistake

did that in a rush. Must confess I 'd have expected the Mirror to benefit the most.