The Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday reported the biggest sales rise in the national newspaper market in December, thanks to Richard Desmond’s price-cutting strategy.
The biggest riser was the Daily Star Sunday, which increased sales by 10.75% year on year to 297,053, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Thursday. The Daily Star rose by 5.97% to 451,739.
The Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Express, the Sunday Express and the Sunday People suffered double-digit declines.
While the performance of the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday looks outwardly impressive, Desmond needs a much greater sales boost to make up for the loss of sales income from the price cut.
The best performer in the quality market was the Times which rose 4.58% year on year to 408,643.
However, the newspaper has doubled the number of bulk copies, sold for a nominal fee to partners such as airlines and railway companies and given away for free, it has put in the market.
According to the figures, the Times had 21,271 bulks in December 2014, a figure which rose to 41,598 last month.
