14 May 10

Election campaign boosts quality dailies month-on-month

The general election campaign gave quality daily newspapers a mini-boost in April, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation published today (14.05.10).

The Independent, the Guardian and the Times all posted small month-on-month circulation rises in April. Year-on-year, however, the entire sector saw declines, with the Times, Telegraph and Guardian still suffering in comparison to figures for April 2009, which included large numbers of now-discarded bulks. The Guardian has also cut its overseas distribution by 16,000 copies since April last year. The Independent relaunched on 20th April under its new owner Alexander Lebedev and undertook a major sampling exercise, giving away 300,000 copies of a cutdown version each day up to the eve of the election.