Inflation-busting promo pays off for News of the World

LONDON - The Scottish Sundays rallied in August following months of circulation declines, while a Tesco promotion helped the News of the World to a 2% increase, according to the latest ABCs.

Johnston Press-owned Scotland on Sunday added 12% in August, to climb to 67,300, although the title is still down 12.5% year on year. Newsquest's Sunday Herald hit 47,680, a 9.9% increase.
Among the tabloids, the Daily Star Sunday was the biggest winner, adding 3.8% to reach 403,753. A £5 off food at Tesco promotion helped the News of the World to add 2.1%, to reach 3,249,147.

And it was positive news almost across the board for the tabloids, with the Olympic successes obviously providing the sector with a timely boost. The Sunday Mail added 2.8% to record a figure of 481,456 and The People reached 649,420, up 1.5%.

Only the Sunday Mirror, down 0.4% to 1,311,386, and the Sunday Sport, which lost a further 5.2% to hit 77,316, taking its year-on-year losses to 16.7%, recorded declining circulations in the popular market.
The news from the qualities, aside from the successes of the Scottish Sundays, was not so positive. The Observer was the biggest loser, shedding 4% in August to record a figure of 411,244, down 7.1% year on year. The Independent on Sunday hit 196,752, down 1.9% since July, The Sunday Times lost 0.2% month on month, down to 1,156,540, and The Sunday Telegraph dipped just 0.1% to record a figure of 618,772.

In the mid-market, The Mail on Sunday dropped 1.3% in August to 2,177,527, down 5.6% year on year, while the Sunday Post was up 1% to reach 396,162. Finally, the Sunday Express was static, recording just a 50-copy difference in its circulation figure, to rise to 655,053.

Richard Sutcliffe
Media Week
5th September