Independent gains as The Guardian slips again in ABCs

Jules Grant,

March 12, 2004

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Independent gains as The Guardian slips again in ABCs

LONDON – The Independent is snatching circulation from closest rival The Guardian as its tabloid edition continues to power circulation growth at the expense of the rest of the broadsheet market, according to the ABC circulation figures for February.

The Independent's decision to extend the reach of its tabloid format has clearly paid off, with the paper posting an impressive 3% rise to 256,378. Year on year the paper is up 7.6% and has posted an increase every month since September 2003.

The story at The Guardian could not be more different as the paper continues to see circulation slide, dropping 3.5% in February to 369,726 and making it the biggest loser in the broadsheet market during the month.

Year-on-year The Guardian is down 5.1% making it the second worst performer among the national broadsheet titles other than The Times.

The Times, which followed suit in launching a tabloid edition to the broadsheet in December, saw a slight decline in February, down 0.7% to 655,876. Year-on-year it is down 6.3% and has posted a mixed set of figures over the past six months, showing that its compact launch is not affecting The Independent.

The Financial Times was the best performer out of the quality dailies, up 3.9% to 439,035. This marks a change from last month when it was the only title to post a decline.

Like rival The Times, The Daily Telegraph posted a small fall dipping 0.9% to 906,317, down 4.5% year on year.

Among the daily mid-markets, the Daily Mail was down 3.1% to 2,408,001 and Richard Desmond's Daily Express remains steady, up 0.54% to 961,836.

The quality Sundays paint a pretty bleak picture with most titles down this month. The Business saw the biggest decline, down 7.3% to 284,188. The Observer is down 1.75% to 451,737 and The Sunday Times is down 1.72% to 1,346,453.

The Sunday Express was the best performer in the Sunday market. Its circulation was up 5.3% on the previous month to 979,089.

Among the Sunday red-tops, the Sunday Sport and the Daily Star Sunday were the biggest casualties, down 11% and 10.8% respectively to 159,027 and 496,159.

There was little change in the daily red-top maket with the Daily Mirror, The Sun and Daily Star all down by under 1%.

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