The latest batch of ABC figures for the national newspapers once again highlight the pressures they face as readers continue to migrate online.
Overall, daily sales declined by 6% across the board in the first half of the year while Sunday sales were down by 7% according to the ABC.
Of the dailies, the Irish Independent remained the biggest selling daily with 121,120 for the six months although this was down 3.9% on the corresponding period in 2012 and by 2.3% on the figure reported for the end of December 2012. The Irish Times, meanwhile, ended the period with a circulation of 84,201 for the first six months. This was down by 4.7% on the figure at the end of December 2012 and 9% on the comparable figure for the first six months of the year.
Figures for the Irish Examiner, meanwhile, show that circulation was down by 4.2% on the December figure and by 5.8% year-on-year. Elsewhere the Herald was down by 4.3% while the Irish Daily Star’s circulation in the Republic of Ireland was down by 12.3% to 60,707. The Irish Daily Mirror and the Irish Sun also saw an erosion in circulation, dropping by 5% and 10% respectively, to end up with average daily sales of 54,550 and 60,707 at the end of June 2013.
The news was better for the Irish Daily Mail which saw a 3.5% increase on its year-on-year figure although circulation, at 50,680, was flat when compared to the December 2012 figure.
In the cut-throat Sunday market, the Irish Independent remains the biggest selling newspaper in the country with a circulation of 232,494, a 2.6% drop on the comparable figure for 2012. Meanwhile, its stablemate the Sunday World, weighed in with a circulation of 211,161, a drop of 6.9% on the comparable figure for 2012. Elsewhere the Sunday Business Post witnessed a 6.7% drop in circulation to 38,293 copies a week while the Sunday Times saw a drop of 7.3% in circulation to 98,328 copies a week.
The latest batch of ABC figures also show that the Irish Farmers Journal continued to grow by registering a 1.1% increase in circulation to hit 70,853 at the end of June 2013 while the Metro Herald turned in a solid set of figures with an average daily circulation figure of 59,255.
Next week, all eyes will be on the latest batch of figures from the JNRS and a full report and analysis of both the latest ABC and JNRS figures will be published in the September issue of IMJ.
