ABC's August figures: tabloid sales go up, broadsheet sales go down

Posted by Helena Humphrey on September 14, 2009 at 10:19 AM

August is a traditionally a quiet month for newspaper sales - and according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation's (ABC) latest figures, this year was no different. There were, however, a few surprises in the sale of tabloid publications, the Guardian reported, with The Sun enjoying an increase in sales from July to August by 7,094 copies.

Similarly the News of the World also saw a rise in sales by 16,786 last month, but is still 3.94% down on August last year.

It has not been a good year for those at the Daily Mail, with sales down 3.86% this year. The steep decline at the Mail on Sunday continued in August, down 27,197 from July and 7.52% since 2008.

Meanwhile, it's the Sunday broadsheets that have been the hardest hit: though the Independent on Sunday saw a small rise of 414 in sales from July, this will do little to help this year's worrying decrease by 18.27%, nor put an end to
the intense speculation concerning the newspaper's future.

The Observer is down 12.03% so far this year, and the Sunday Telegraph 3.17%. At the Sunday Times, sales fell by no less than 26,105, but remarkably remained up by 0.72 % from August 2008.

Sales of the Guardian also took a nosedive, down 17,386 from July. Overall this year The Times is down 5.97%, the Telegraph 5.37%, and the Financial Times 5.2%.

Normally attributed to the fact that many UK residents go abroad in August, the decline in sales may not appear to be all that worrying. However, with fewer people choosing to jet off this summer, is there another reason behind the fall in newspaper sales? With readers back at work from the start of this month the effect this will have on newspaper sales, particularly those of the broadsheets, will remain to be seen.

Source: The Guardian