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Newspapers record falls in circulation in second half of 2012

Every national title recorded a drop in its average circulation, though some fared better than others.

Updated, 19:01

EVERY NATIONAL newspaper saw its circulation decline in the second half of 2012, when compared to the second half of 2011, new figures have shown.

Data published by the UK-based Audit Bureau of Circulations, commissioned by the Irish titles, showed that every national title saw its circulation fall over the year – with some titles faring better than others.

The Irish Times had a daily circulation of 88,356, down by 8.1 per cent from the equivalent period in 2011, while the Irish Independent‘s circulation dropped by 5.5 per cent to 123,981.

Both of the major Thomas Crosbie Media titles, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Business Post, saw their circulation drop under the 40,000 mark – the Examiner down by 6 per cent to 39,555, and the Business Post to 39,416 (down 8.6 per cent). The Cork-based Evening Echo saw circulation fall 11.1 per cent, to 16,560.

The Irish Daily Star lost 11.1 per cent of its circulation, falling to 66,491. INM’s Evening Herald dropped 5.8 per cent to 58,826.

The figures for the Irish editions of British-owned tabloid papers are measured on a monthly basis, as part of the more regular auditing of their British parent titles, but have shown falls of similar scale.

The Irish Sun‘s circulation for January 2013 fell 8.8 per cent year-on-year to 66,823; the Irish Daily Mirror was down 8.27 per cent to 56,872, while the Irish Daily Mail held steady, dropping only 0.24 per cent of its circulation to 50,207.

Sunday market still in flux

It is the Sunday market which has shown the most flux, particularly in the tabloid end, where the vacuum from the closure of the News of the World in July 2011 has led to more dramatic changes of fortune.

The Sunday Independent remains Ireland’s most widely-read newspaper, despite a drop of 5.4 per cent in its circulation to 237,185.

The Sunday World - which had recorded the highest circulation of any title in the equivalent period last year – saw a fall of 13.6 per cent, to 217,141 copies circulated each week. The Sunday Times fell below the 100,000 barrier, down 6.6 per cent to 98,132 copies.

The Irish Sun on Sunday, which was introduced to the market in February 2012, had an average weekly circulation of 58,749 – only just over half of the old News of the World’s final weekly circulation, of 113,111, but enough to damage the Irish Sunday Mirror – which saw circulation fall 31.7 per cent to 41,910.

The Irish Mail on Sunday also saw its circulation fall as a result of the new tabloid entrant: it had a weekly average of 98,484, down by 14.5 per cent.

Circulation does not necessarily equate to average sales at news-stands and newsagents; it also includes subscription copies and complimentary copies provided in places like hotels.

The figures are separate to readership statistics produced by the industry-run Joint National Readership Survey, published earlier this month, which showed that roughly 82 per cent of the adult population read a newspaper on a monthly or weekly basis.

In that instance, National Newspapers of Ireland chairman Frank Cullen told AdWorld.ie that the slight fall in readership figures was probably as a result of the drop in employment numbers – meaning fewer people attended a workplace where newspapers could be shared around.

Correction: This article previously carried an error relating to the 2011 circulation for the Sunday Independent, suggesting its circulation had risen in 2012 compared to 2011. The 2011 figure has been corrected and the 2012 performance revised accordingly.

August 2012: Latest figures show continued fall in Irish newspaper sales

February 2012: New figures show falling circulation for most Irish daily newspapers

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47 Comments
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    Mute Ciaran De Bhal
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:30 PM

    Haven’t bought a newspaper in 6 months. Why ? News freely available online at any time night or day.

    150
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    Mute John Burke
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:09 PM

    Without agendas. Good day for democracy when print media is gone.

    59
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    Mute Vincent Dolan
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:55 PM

    The problem with the web is that it does facilitate an insular viewpoint. In the States, Democrats read the left leaning Huff Post & Republicans read the right orientated Drudge report. People aren’t exposed to opposing viewpoints like they would be in a national newspaper so they think everyone agrees with their worldview and become more extremist. If the Journal was your only source of news you could be excused for thinking Ireland is a quasi-communist left wing nirvana, for example. Full of hippies with long hair.

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    Mute Brian Daly
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:26 PM

    Free news won’t be around for ever though.

    14
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    Mute Neil Harvey
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:57 PM

    Sure. What’s the point in buying a hard copy. Electronic copies are user and environmental friendly!

    9
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    Mute David Higgins
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:20 PM

    Sunday Independent numbers rising???

    That explains the Fianna Fáil poll rise so.

    119
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    Mute Reg
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:26 PM

    It’s an awful rag. Who buys it? Will anyone here admit to it?

    115
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    Mute tom
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:37 PM

    I buy it on rare occasion but its a shadow of its former self.

    20
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    Mute JayTee
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:51 PM

    I blame thejournal.ie

    94
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    Mute Eamonn Bolger
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:55 PM

    Haven’t bought a paper for years. The amount of web-based info is truly staggering. I

    40
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    Mute Jim Redmond
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:32 PM

    Nor have I but I actually nearly bought the local rag (Wicklow People) today.

    6
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    Mute Keith Kavanagh
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:49 PM

    The Journal is my daily paper these days

    83
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    Mute Vincent Dolan
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:17 PM

    It’s genuinely depressing to see the tabloidisation of what was once a great national institution, the Sunday Independent yielding a dividend for INM.

    77
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    Mute the truth hurts
    Favourite the truth hurts
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:49 PM

    I stopped buying the Sunday Independent due to Denis O Brien s ownership. I rarely listen to Newstalk or Today FM for same reason. The control of public opinion by banking / Bilderberg interests is sickening. Not everyone has access to alternative news sources like the Journal – where the commentary is more informative than the article on many occasions.

    98
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    Mute John Burke
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:11 PM

    Sir anto o’reilly was just as annoying.

    26
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    Mute Vincent Dolan
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:33 PM

    I should add that it’s equally depressing to see an Ireland hating paper like middle England’s Mail On Sunday getting nearly 100,000 readers. Shame on you all.

    35
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    Mute Real Betis
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:32 PM

    Indeed a great ‘national institution’ ….great centenary coming up this year….How W.Martin Murphy and his organ helped, in a very significant way to defeat Jim Larkin in the lockout of 1913 and put us back in our place. Look forward to the celebrations!!

    5
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    Mute Fussy Galore
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    Feb 22nd 2013, 3:52 PM

    The Irish Times must be particularly disappointed with their -8% decrease, especially when you considered all the money they spent (The story of why!) on marketing and the redesign of the newspaper.

    6
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    Mute Paul M. Barrett
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:22 PM

    It probably means that more people are reading newspapers online. It’s been quite a while since i bought a newspaper , most information can easily be accessed on line through iPhone or laptop.

    76
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    Mute Cian O Donnell
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:46 PM

    newspapers are ink on dead trees….

    51
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    Mute Bramley Hawthorne
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:28 PM

    Turning forests into lies.

    36
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    Mute M McCallion
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:29 PM

    Newspapers will not last much longer.

    18
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    Mute Little Jim
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:57 PM

    They remind me of that blow up doll I got when I was sixteen, full of glamour and promise but in reality fake, grubby and ultimately disappointing.
    :(

    9
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    Mute Frank2521
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:26 PM

    We need to start a fund to help out the struggling Denis O Brian.

    75
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    Mute Derek Durkin
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    Feb 21st 2013, 5:25 PM

    “The man ( or woman ) who reads no newspapers at all is better educated than the man who does” – Thomas Jefferson. Can apply that to the tv media as well. Good riddance.

    70
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    Mute Joan Ruud Donnellan-Wijnen
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:37 PM

    The papers are €1.80 per day & €2.80 at the weekends… At least the IRISH TIMES is… I just can’t afford it anymore… I loved the feeling of sitting down with a coffee/tea and physically reading the paper..but @ €14.60 p/w? I can think of other things to do with that now…. BILLS!!!

    52
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    Mute John Burke
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:08 PM

    Good, the sooner the INM shower with their FF mouthpiece the sindo are gone the better.

    37
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    Mute Eamonn Bolger
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:48 PM

    It’s gas. For years the Indo was viewed as a FG paper.

    15
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    Mute Al S Macthomais
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:48 PM

    Majority of Irish Papers are just pr spin for business lobby and government propaganda like an Irish Pravda

    34
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    Mute Tigerisinthezoo
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:51 PM

    Not surprising that figures are falling.
    I always thought newspapers were good value but the standard of writing and editorialship has declined a great deal. I am turned off when I read articles by journalists like Niam Horan in Sindo or reading the latest about some model and her relationships. Totally boring stuff.
    The Examiner is good quality the odd time I have read it but the size of it is a big turn off.
    Like many I find it easier to use my phone now in a cafe or around the house.

    31
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    Mute Gavin McGuinness
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:20 PM

    With free wifi now available across Dublin city centre and free wifi being rolled out on the buses, these falling figures are no surprise. Like the music industry, the newspaper industry is being very slow to adjust to the new methods of accessing news.

    26
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    Mute Brian Daly
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:32 PM

    The problem is that there is still a lot of money in selling paper or music on plastic. A newspaper can put all of it’s output on the web but the ad revenue is only a fraction what the daily paper will make. So really the old world is, at the moment at least, subsidising the new media world. I think we’ll be seeing more pay walls.

    9
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    Mute Gavin McGuinness
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:15 PM

    I agree with you to some extent but it is also true in saying that currently the newspapers are working in an unsustainable way. Most of the papers in the state have mountains of debt in their name.

    4
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    Mute Jamie McCormack
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:31 PM

    All the good papers are gone, The Irish Press, Ireland on Sunday, Sunday Tribune..

    15
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    Mute John Murray
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:00 PM

    A lot of folk haven taken to doing a Sunday shop in Dunnes buying the paper whilst there . Noticed only the Sindo available there on Sunday. Are other supermarkets contractually obligated in the same way or is there more choice elsewhere? Not that I’d read that rag. Used to enjoy the Times on a Sunday like a poster above but the €2.80 can be better spent now when every cent matters.

    12
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    Mute Bo11ocks_to_this
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:33 PM

    I had a Playboy subscription for that very reason ;)

    3
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    Mute ilevel.ie
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:35 PM

    Dunnes Threw out most of the papers because they wanted better ‘terms’. That’s a euphemism for ‘lube up’ – we what more money!

    They didn’t throw any of the Indo titles in the skip, funny that. But not so as well, when you cant get a selection of papers on Sunday

    8
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    Mute Martin Mac
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:18 PM

    Bump….

    “The man ( or woman ) who reads no newspapers at all is better educated than the man who does” – Thomas Jefferson. Can apply that to the tv media as well. Good riddance.

    12
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    Mute Eamonn Bolger
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:50 PM

    Martin – are you and Derek the same person? Lol! Exact same post!

    14
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    Mute Barry
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    Feb 21st 2013, 6:12 PM

    Never bought newspapers have always used the Web since I got on the net in the mid 90s.

    Gave up buying magazines as I found I’d also get the info sooner, an example is focus magazine… By the time you read something in it it’s 2-3s weeks old

    11
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    Mute M McCallion
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:32 PM

    I get my news on Google News. It has a wide variety of viewpoints. I then make my decision.

    9
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    Mute Brian O' Connor
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    Feb 22nd 2013, 3:33 AM

    Gave up Sunday Newspapers over 10 years ago, when reading another article about CJH I inadvertently found myself checking the date to see if I had bought the previous weeks edition by mistake, I hadn’t! Gave up the IT on Xmas eve when the price went up to 2euro. The increase only applied to the ROI with no increase for their UK customers? Imagine in a dwindling market and the worse recession in generations they increase the price? Like the publicans they seem to think that the Law of Diminishing Returns did not apply to them. Get all my news word wide on line via laptop and tablet.

    8
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    Mute ilevel.ie
    Favourite ilevel.ie
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:31 PM

    Where are you going with the Sunday Indo figures?

    Dennis, Is that you…..!!!

    They are down 5% and heading south with the rest of the gang

    http://www.ilevel.ie/media-blog/print/102468-sunday-newspapers-abc-july-dec-2012

    C

    7
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    Mute JayTee
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:18 PM

    It’s all the fault of thejournal.ie

    7
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    Mute John Murray
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:01 PM

    meh. The Sunday Sport was great for the articles too :)

    6
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    Mute Colm O' Leary
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:03 PM

    How’s the farmers journal doing ?

    6
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    Mute Fw
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    Mar 10th 2013, 1:27 PM

    I buy the paper on the odd occasion however today for instance got a link on face book to an article and continued reading so I agree totally there is a lot of web based news only issue is what’s correct and what’s not

    1
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