News International claims 526,556 total sales for The Times

News International has updated its digital sales figures for The Times and Sunday Times brands today, following average sales for The Times newspaper falling below 400,000 copies for the first time since 1993.

News International claims 526,556 sales for The Times and Times.co.uk
News International claims 526,556 sales for The Times and Times.co.uk

On Friday (9 March) its lowest on record since Rupert Murdoch began an aggressive price war in 1993. 

News International has now released new figures for The Times' digital subscribers for the same month, of 129,007, resulting in an unverified total paid audience of 526,556 for The Times.

The publisher, which famously erected paywalls around The Times and Sunday Times websites in the summer of 2010, said the combined total represents a year-on-year increase of nearly 1,594 sales between February 2012 and February 2011.

There is no such growth story for the The Sunday Times, however, which reports 124,136 digital subscribers resulting in a total paid audience of 1,063,531, down slightly from 1,120,628 the year before.

A News International spokesperson added: "The number of digital subscribers to The Times and The Sunday Times has continued to grow month-on-month, with subscriptions to The Times rising by nearly 10,000 in February compared to January. The Sunday Times saw a rise of over 10,000.   

"Meanwhile, the number of readers on the iPad continues to increase. In February, an average of 55,823 copies of The Times were downloaded daily on the iPad, a 26% increase since September 2011."

The average number of The Sunday Times iPad edition downloaded in February was 72,223. This is a 104% increase since Sept 2011.

The Times and The Sunday Times are available for download on all platforms and devices including Android, Amazon Kindle and iOS5.

Unverified News International digital figures combined with official ABC figures.

Total Paid for Sale - The Times
  ABC Print Circulation Total digital subs Total Paid for Sale
Feb-11 445,962 79,000 524,962
Jun-11 440,581 101,036 541,617
Sep-11 429,554 111,036 540,590
Oct-11 417,197 112,616 529,813
Nov-11 413,233 116,134 529,367
Dec-11 409,060 116,902 525,962
Jan-12 405,113 119,255 524,368
Feb-12 397,549 129,007 526,556
League Tables
Total Paid for Sale - The Sunday Times
  ABC Print Circulation Total digital subs Total Paid for Sale
Feb-11 1,045,495 75,133 1,120,628
Jun-11 1,000,848 97,004 1,097,852
Sep-11 984,223 105,594 1,089,817
Oct-11 967,990 107,569 1,075,559
Nov-11 967,615 110,569 1,078,184
Dec-11 935,442 110,024 1,045,466
Jan-12 967,975 113,818 1,081,793
Feb-12 939,395 124,136 1,063,531

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