The Times has posted its biggest year-on-year circulation growth in a decade, with sales rising 4.7% to 407,566 in November – the paper’s highest figure since the 2012 Olympics.
The only other UK papers to show year-on-year growth were freesheets the Evening Standard and Metro, as well as the Daily Star, which recently slahed its price by 50%.
Some of the rise in the Times’s circulation appears to be due to an increase in bulk sales – copies sold to partners such as hotels, gyms, airlines and rail companies for a nominal sum and given away free. However, paid sales have also increased significantly year on year.
Editor John Witherow said the circulation growth was partly down to the newspaper’s coverage of big events including the Paris attacks.
He said: “The Times was the only newspaper to carry the Paris terror attacks in its first edition [see footnote] and our thorough reporting and analysis of the chancellor’s spending review are two major news events reflected in the November ABC figures.”
The Paris attacks also appear to have had an impact for some other broadsheet titles, with the Daily Telegraph increasing circulation by 1.2% to 480,730 and the Observer, Independent on Sunday, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times posting small increases compared with October.
However, the UK’s two main tabloids continued to suffer during November, even as some of the nation’s broadsheets managed to claw back small numbers of readers.
Print editions of both the Sun and Mirror saw further circulation declines during the month, with Sunday editions especially badly hit.
The Sun slipped by 0.9%, or 16,555 copies, to 1.78m a day, with the Sun on Sunday falling 2.2%, or 33,934 copies, to 1.48m.
The Mirror suffered a 1.9% drop to 825,829, with the Sunday Mirror slumping 4.9%, or almost 40,000, to 761,584.
The Sunday People, also owned by Trinity Mirror, fell 3.9% to 289,501.
The Sun 1,788, 866 (-0.92% month on month/-7.39% year on year)
Daily Mail 1,587,986 (-0.36%/-4.36%)
Metro 1,345,358 ( +0.09%/-0.08%)
London Evening Standard 900,264 (-0.03%/2.95)
Daily Mirror 825,829 (-1.89%/-10.04%)
The Daily Telegraph 480,730 (1.21%/-2.72%)
Daily Star 450,045 (4.17%/2.68%)
The Times 407,566 (3.38%/4.74%)
Daily Express 403,343 (-1.92%/-11.75%)
i 273,961 (-0.25%/-2.83%)
Financial Times 205,695 (-1.64%/-4.09%)
The Guardian 165,672 (-0.77%/-6.88%)
The Independent 56,005 (-0.89%/-7.82%)
• This footnote was appended on 21 December 2015. We have subsequently been informed by the Telegraph that it, too, had coverage of the Paris attacks in its first edition.
