Image: Zeevveez
Daily newspapers down, online news services up seems to be the message from today’s release of the six monthly figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
All UK regional dailies saw circulation fall in the second half of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012 according to the figures just released.
But at the same time, all the leading regional press groups saw an increase in online readership over same period.
The bigger increases were seen at Local World, which includes the Hull Daily Mail, where daily unique browsers rose by 67.3pc year-on-year and also at Newsquest, some of whose Northern portfolio recently undertook industrial action including The Northern Echo and York Press, which saw their daily browsers increase by 40.6pc to 731,495.
Johnston Press’ websites, which include the online platforms for the Yorkshire Post and Blackpool Gazette saw a 29pc rise in daily unique browsers to 716,555, while Trinity Mirror’s regional sites, which includes the Manchester Evening News had a 23.3pc increase to 659,518.
But the situation looks rather different with the ABC reports on the newspapers showing across the board falls in circulation.
In print the Lancashire Telegraph in Blackburn has fallen by 33.9% while the Bolton News and Doncaster Star fell by 32.2% and 31.8% respectively.
Trinity Mirror’s daily titles are excluded as they are now audited monthly.
Compare the northern titles (print) below.
