
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 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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