Rupert Murdoch might want to rethink the plan to fold thelondonpaper next month. The latest data from the National Readership Survey shows the free daily gained the most readers of all UK newspapers for the year ending in June, jumping 14 percent to 1.1 million.

And in spite of the boost from its scoop of the MP expenses scandal, the Daily Telegraph was one of the biggest losers in the survey. Readership dropped 218,000, a loss of 11 percent.
The Financial Times also saw an increase of 14 percent, for a total of 430,000 readers. Other publications experiencing growth included the Guardian, the Times, and the Daily Express, as well as thelondonpaper competitors Metro and London Lite.

All other newspapers showed readership decline, according to the survey. Another big loss came at the Daily Mail, whose readership fell 9 percent to 4.8 million. In contrast, the latest ABCe figures show the Mail reigning supreme on the web for the second month in a row. The newspaper's web site also received a record 29,872,465 unique visitors in July. While there is no analysis to link the two developments, it doesn't seem like too much of a leap to hypothesize that some of the Mail's readers are abandoning the print edition for online.

Unlike ABC data, which relies on official circulation figures, the latest NRS results stem from a poll of 37,454 people, which is then used to estimate newspaper readership in the UK.

Source: Press Gazette