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The Mirror just managed to fend off the Daily Mail in the battle to

be Britain’s second-biggest-selling newspaper last month, but only

thanks to bulk sales of nearly 44,000.

The latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations put the Mirror

just 11,655 copies ahead of the Mail. Without the ballast of bulks,

however, the Mirror fell behind with an average daily full-rate

circulation of 2,123,244 compared with 2,123,765 for the Mail.

The ABC decided to include Mirror Group’s three-day bulk sales promotion

with Ladbrokes, which ran from 26 March for three days, despite News

International’s allegations that it was a ’cynical’ bulk sales deal

which went against the newspaper market’s recent efforts at greater

transparency (±±¾©Èü³µpk10, 3 April).

Ray Hall, chief executive of the ABC, said that although News

International had challenged the inclusion of this bulk sale in March’s

ABC figures, it qualified within the old ABC rules which will be in play

until the end of June.

’Our priority was to make sure the figures went out last week and those

copies under the Ladbrokes promotion were liable under the old

rules.

We are now addressing the second question of whether it would be allowed

under the new rules. We would like to discuss it with Mirror Group, as

well as News International.’

The daily broadsheets performed well, with the exception of the Times

which recorded a fall in circulation of just over 3.3 per cent to

783,852. Year on year, however, the Times’s circulation was up by just

under 3 per cent. The Financial Times continues to turn in healthy

circulation figures, with a 1.67 increase in circulation month on month

and a 12.8 per cent growth year on year to 359,458.