The Daily Mirror rose 2% last month on the back of heavy coverage of the hit ITV reality show 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here' -- a climbdown by editor Piers Morgan on its editorial policy of eschewing celebrity coverage.
However, the lacklustre performance of this year's 'Big Brother' on Channel 4 appears to have had an effect on the Mirror, which claims to be the "unofficial Big Bro paper", and has failed to help the title maintain its rise.
In June, the paper fell 0.85% to 1,948,870, a drop of 7.93% year on year, bringing its average circulation for the six months from January to June to 1,989,174.
The figures compare with a 1.58% month-on-month increase for Richard Desmond's Daily Star to 869,884, a leap of 29.26% year on year. The Sun was down 0.34% on May's figure, a year-on-year drop of 0.44% on June 2002 to 3,509,100.
The Sunday Mirror proved the one bright spot for Trinity Mirror, however, with the title showing the only month-on-month increase in the Sunday tabloid sector.
The Sunday Mirror was up 2.39% month on month to 1,632,991, but still down by 3.57% over the year. The People was down just 0.05% to 1,100,315 on the previous month, although this is a 15.48% fall on the figure for June 2002.
In the daily broadsheet sector, all the titles were down month on month and year on year. The biggest decline was at The Times, down 10.26% year on year, a month-on-month fall of 0.95% to 631,653; the Daily Telegraph was close behind, falling 8.88% year on year to 915,206, down 1.17% on May.
The Independent continued its decline to 220,112. It was down 1.14% month on month, falling year on year at a less dramatic rate than its sector-leading rivals, down just 2.13% on June 2002.
In the Sunday broadsheet sector, the news was mixed, with financial paper The Business reporting strong monthly and yearly increases, and market leader the Sunday Times improving on last month's figure.
The Business reported a June 2003 ABC of 102,632, up 1.64% on May's figure, a large year-on-year improvement of 14.07%. The Sunday Times increased its lead with a 3.05% jump from May to 1,376,394, a 4.1% decrease on June 2002.
The news wasn't so good for the Sunday Telegraph, which fell 1.56% from May to 700,051, down 8.85% year on year, while the Independent on Sunday was down 2.9% month on month, a year-on-year decline of 4.65% to 223,870.
Associated Newspaper's Evening Standard didn't do too well either, posting a circulation of 395,863, down 2.68% on the previous month, a year-on-year drop of 4.55%.
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