The Irish Times was the only daily newspaper to increase sales in the first half of 2003, according to the latest circulation figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
According to figures released yesterday, the newspaper's average net sales rose by 3,028 copies to 117,565 to the end of June. This 2.6 per cent increase contrasted to sharp falls in circulation at all the other dailies.
Based on the first half of this year, the Irish Independent and the Irish Examiner lost significant sales. The Irish Independent lost 7,070 sales to 162,463, a drop of 4.2 per cent, while the Irish Examiner lost 4,399, a 6.8 per cent drop, to 60,229.
The Irish Times year-on-year circulation dropped from 119,726 to 117,565. The year-on-year figures also showed sharp falls for other papers. The Irish Independent was down 7,691 (or 4.5 per cent), while the Irish Examiner dropped 3,992 or 6.2 per cent.
In the Sunday market, there was good news for the Sunday Business Post, which increased sales by 2,664 (a rise of 5.4 per cent) and Ireland on Sunday, which pushed sales up by 5,453 (a rise of 3.4 per cent).
However, there were sharp declines in sales for the Sunday Independent, down 3.4 per cent to 294,739 from 305,182, and the Sunday Tribune, down to 80,095 from 83,328 (a drop of 3.9 per cent). The Sunday World saw its sales slip 1.8 per cent.
The group marketing director of Independent News & Media, Mr Barry Brennan, said the company was happy with that its core sale was remaining steady.
He said about 4,000 of the approximately 7,000 sales drop, was due to the Independent reducing the number of of its "bulk sales" (copies of the paper given away at a reduced price). Such sales account for 17,187 of the Irish Independent's sales.
He said the ABC was preparing to introduce new rules on bulk sales in January 2004 and the company was making a conscious decision now to reduce the number of bulk sales in its figures.
In relation to the remainder of the lost sales, he said several factors were at play: a 20 cent cover price increase during the period under review, some impact from the Dublin Evening newspaper and a lack of the unprecedented Irish news stories in the first half of the year like the Roy Keane Saipan saga in 2002.
Ireland on Sunday, however, criticised the Independent response. In a statement, it claimed the Sunday Independent had taken to selling copies in such places as Canada, Belgium and Saudi Arabia, which masked a fall in domestic sales.
Figures for the Irish Star were not included in the ABC data as it is considered an Irish edition of a British title.
Meanwhile, the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) released advertising figures for the first six months of the year.
These showed that € 126.6 million was spent in the 11-member titles of the NNI in the first half of the year.
The NNI said the first quarter of 2003 was very tough with a 10 per cent decline in spending year-on-year. However, advertising expenditure actually grew by 1.7 per cent in the second quarter.
Of the €126.6 million of revenue, €65.7 million came via the advertising agencies with the balance generated from retail, property and classified business.
