Rich Sutcliffe, Media Week, 10 October 2008, 1:00pm

Guardian, Times and FT receive September boost

LONDON - The Guardian and The Times recorded the biggest increases in month-on-month average circulations across the national daily market in September, according to the latest ABC figures.

However average net circulations across the tabloid, mid-market and quality sectors were generally down in September, a month that usually sees a lift in circulation as families return from their holidays. Year on year all dailies are showing losses.

The Guardian Media Group (GMG) owned Guardian had a circulation lift of 4.9% in September, recording an average net circulation of 348,878, but was down 5.1% year on year.

Rival quality title The Times' average net circulation was up 4.1% to hit 638,033, but was down 2.5% year on year.

The Financial Times recorded an average circulation of 429,381, an uplift of 2.8% month on month, but down 2.7% year on year.

The remaining quality papers all recorded losses to net circulation in September, worsening their year-on-year figures.

The Daily Telegraph dropped 1.05%, falling to 851,254, down 4.5% year on year.

The Independent, which increased its cover price from 80p to £1 on 15 September and underwent a revamp on 22 September, which included moving to full colour, fell to 220,957, down 4% across the month and 12.1% year on year.

The Scottish papers faired little better, with The Scotsman dropping to 51,135, down 3.2% for the month and 8.7% for year on year, and The Herald losing 1.4% for the month and 9% year on year, to record a figure for September of 63,097.

The Sun managed to add 0.2% in September, to reach 3,154,998, but this still left the nation's best selling paper down 1.8% year on year. The Daily Sport also managed a slight rise in September, up 0.7% to 79,953 - year-on-year figures for the paper were not available.

The Daily Mirror lost 1% for the month, hitting 1,440,651, a 9.1% fall year on year. The Daily Star lost 2.7%, down to 731,433, equating to a 9% drop year on year. In Scotland, the Daily Record lost 2.4% during September, recording a net circulation figure of 380,849, down 7.6% year on year.

In the mid-market, sector, The Daily Mail lost 0.8% in September to record a figure of 2,241,788, down 5.2% year on year, while its rival the Daily Express lost 1.3% month on month, down to 739,025, a 9.3% year-on-year fall.