‘The Irish Times’ sees daily circulation rise by 2% to 79,255 in first half of 2018

The Irish Times had a combined average daily circulation of 79,255 copies for its print and ePaper editions in the first half of 2018, up 2 per cent year on year, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).

The company, which recently acquired the assets of Cork-based Landmark Media Investments, publisher of the Irish Examiner and other titles, saw its print circulation decline by 3.3 per cent to 60,352.

Sales of its audited digital edition or ePaper, however, rose by 24 per cent year-on-year to 18,903 in the period from January to June.

The ABC figures show that the Irish newspaper market continued to contract in the first half of 2018, a trend that has been ongoing for more than a decade as people switch from print to digital.

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The circulation of daily print titles – including UK newspapers sold in Ireland – declined by 9 per cent year on year, with 376,141 copies sold on average each day.

The Irish Independent saw its combined circulation fall by 5 per cent in the first half of 2018. On average, 91,224 copies were sold per day across print and digital, down from 96,478 a year earlier.

Decline

The Irish Independent's print edition saw its circulation decline by 7 per cent to 87,673 year on year. Its sister paper, the Herald, recorded an even bigger drop of 18 per cent to 31,946.

The Irish Examiner recorded an 8 per cent year-on-year decline in print circulation to 26,085. Sales of its sister title, the Evening Echo, fell 9 per cent to 9,011.

The Irish Daily Star had a circulation of 41,169, down 8 per cent year on year, while the Irish Daily Mirror dropped 12 per cent to 30,024, with the circulation of the Irish Daily Mail in the Republic down 23 per cent to 30,926.

The Irish Sun bucked the downward trend, however, with its circulation rising 1 per cent to 56,206 year on year in the first half of 2018.

The London-based Times, which launched an Ireland edition in print form last year, recorded an average circulation of 7,328 between January and June, up 86 per cent year on year, but down by 28 per cent when compared to the previous reporting period (July to December 2017).

Sales in the Sunday market were down by 7 per cent, with an average circulation of 574,786 newspapers each week recorded during the period.

The Sunday Independent, the Republic's top-selling Sunday title, saw its combined circulation fall 4 per cent 180,181, while its print circulation fell 5 per cent to 176,580.

The Sunday World, another INM title, had an average circulation of 130,083, down 9 per cent year on year. The Sunday Business Post saw its combined circulation arrive at 31,332, flat on the same period of 2017. However, within that figure, the circulation of its ePaper more than doubled to 2,631.

The Sunday Times had a circulation of 75,138 in the Republic, down 6 per cent on an annual basis.

The circulation in the Republic of the Irish Sun on Sunday was 52,647, up 1 per cent, while the Irish Sunday Mirror dropped 8 per cent to 21,181.