Serious newspapers often do seriously better in serious times, so the big month-on-month winners in the dailies’ circulation struggle for September were the FT (up 3.3 on August) and the Guardian (up 1.63%). But year-on-year the Times (up 1.51%) is the only gainer, which poses a devilish question to its competitors. No, it isn’t rigging the figures: full-rate sales as measured by ABC differ by only six copies. It’s subscription sales, up 7,000, that make the difference. At which point, with too little transparency on offer, you slither into the greyest, most contentious area of the lot. How does Times print performance link with the 390,167 subscriptions it touts on its website? Can a virtuous paywall bring success on both print and screen?
