According to figures for Thursday 30 August, the first full day of competition, the mid-market and quality titles outperformed the tabloids, mirroring the trend of the Olympics.
The Daily Mail was up week on week by 18,000 copies to around 1.8 million copies, beating rival Daily Express, which was up 4,000 to 535,000 copies.
Across the quality sector, The Times – which was one of the strong performers during the Olympics putting on 100,000 copies on the first Saturday of the Games, outperforming its rivals – was up around 3,000 copies to 366,000.
The Guardian was up 2,000 to 169,000, while The Daily Telegraph was up 2,000 to 533,000 copies. The Independent was up 1,000.
The red-tops, overall, performed less well than the qualities, although The Sun countered the downward trend across the sector.
The Sun was up 15,000 to 2.41 million copies, but the Daily Mirror fell 3,000 to 1.04 million and Richard Desmond's Daily Star dropped 16,000 to 595,000.
According to sources, newspaper executives will for the most part be happy with the performances of their papers, as it was the Thursday after a bank holiday Monday, which is traditionally a quiet week for newspapers, particularly as many families are on holiday.
The figures contrast with those during the Olympics when newspapers added significantly to their circulations.
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