Paper readership dips 5m in 15 years

Stephen Brook, press correspondent
Guardian Unlimited,
Friday December 21 2007

The number of UK adults reading at least one national daily newspaper on an average day fell from 26.7 million in 1992 to 21.7 million last year, according to research.

In 1992, 59% of adults read one or more national daily newspapers, compared with 45% last year, the figures from a National Readership Survey commissioned by the House of Lords communications committee found.

However, two national daily and three Sunday titles went against the trend - the Daily Mail, the Times, the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday.
The Daily Express and Daily Mirror were hardest hit, as were the People and Sunday Express, according to NRS.

Readership of the Times, which boosted its circulation with an aggressive cost-cutting strategy in the mid-1990s, increased 69% and the percentage of the UK population it reached increased 59% over the period. Daily Mail readership increased 18% and its reach was up 11%.

The Daily Express's readership has fallen 54% over the past 15 years, the NRS survey found, while its reach fell 57%.

For the Daily Mirror and its Scottish sister paper the Daily Record, readership fell 49% while reach was down 52%.

The overall number of people reading one or more national Sunday newspapers fell 21% and their reach fell 26% over the period.

Bucking the downward trend, Sunday Telegraph readership has risen 6% since 1992, readership of the Sunday Times is up 2% and the Mail on Sunday grew by 4%.

However, no Sunday paper managed to increase the percentage of the population it reached.
The People's readership fell 70% over the period, while its reach was down 72%.

Readership of the Sunday Express dropped 59%, while its reach declined 61%.

The Lords communications committee commissioned the NRS research about readership of print titles as part of its inquiry into media ownership and the news.
NRS data showed that decline in national daily newspaper readership was steepest among younger adults over the past 15 years.

The overall number of 15- to 24-year-old readers fell by 37%, while the decline among 25- to 34-year-old readers was 40%.

However, the number of 55- to 64-year-old readers increased by 4%.
"With 45% of the population reading one of the top 10 national newspapers on an average day it is clear that ownership of the press remains an important issue," said Lord Fowler, the chairman of the communications committee.

"In the new year the committee will be looking in detail at whether media ownership is appropriately regulated and how the public interest can be upheld."

The survey did not include newspaper website traffic, or readership of free titles and of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish papers