Last month, November, the daily national newspapers sold an average of 7,023,738 copies a day, according to the latest official circulation audit by ABC. In the same month in 2013, the 11 titles jointly sold 7,596,192 - a 12-month fall of just over 7.5%.
That sales fall is mirrored at the Sunday titles too, and together those figures illustrate the now regular pattern of overall newsprint decline.
The rate of decrease is probably greater than five years ago, but not much more. It is proving to be a slow death and termination is still a way off.
It is noticeable that the Times alone appears to be bucking the trend because its sale over the past year has stabilised. No wonder the promotions department at its publisher, News UK, has produced a card suggesting death has been cheated!
On the other hand, its market-leading red-top, the Sun, recorded another historic low last month, slipping by a further 2%, and the Sunday Times was about 4% down year-on-year.
These figures still look good when compared with several of the rivals. The Daily Telegraph, Independent, Guardian and Financial Times were down by 10% over the 12 months, as was the Daily Express.
The Daily Mail was off by 5% and the Daily Mirror by more than 8%. Those minus signs are indeed signs of the times (but not the Times!)
The situation has long been worse for the Sundays. The decline appears inexorable, with the Daily Star Sunday down by 13.6%, the Observer down 10.6%, the Sunday People down 10.9%, the Sun on Sunday down by 9.6% and the Sunday Telegraph down by 9.8%.
Down also were the middle market pair, the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Express, both shedding about 8% of their sales over the year.
But none of this is in the least bit unexpected. It is how things are and how things will be for several years to come. At some point, I guess there will be a cliff fall. For now though the printing presses continue to turn - and the print ads still provide the bulk of the revenue for most publishers.
*In the original posting, I wrongly stated that the sales fall was 9%. Bad maths, I’m afraid. I corrected it, with the headline, at 3pm Monday to 7.5%.
