THE Irish News is one of only two UK regional daily newspapers to have beaten its sales from the first Covid-19 lockdown in the first half of this year, new industry figures show.
And the paper has again topped the UK performance charts, with circulation decreasing at a much lesser rate than every other publication in Britain.
In the latest list of ABC-audited UK regional daily newspapers, covering January to June, all UK titles dropped by at least 11 per cent of their circulations compared to January to March 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
The average UK decline was 18 per cent, though at least seven titles saw sales down by more than 21 per cent.
And the decrease was 37.5 per cent (down from 31,477 to 19,683) at the Wolverhampton Express & Star, which as recently as 2017 was the UK's biggest-selling regional daily (just 10 years ago it sold 113,174 a day).
The Irish News now sells an average of 28,014 papers a day, which equates to around 168,000 copies each week and 8.7 million a year.
The News Letter's daily circulation has fallen to 9,505 while the Belfast Telegraph is among a number of UK titles which have chosen not to have their paper sales officially audited by the ABC, the body which independently verifies and reports on media performance.
Irish News editor Noel Doran said: “The pandemic has had a traumatic impact on all sections of society, and created particularly difficult circumstances for the newspaper industry.
“But the Irish News has still managed to maintain its position as the best performing daily title in both the overall Irish market, north and south, and the UK regional sector.”
He added: “I’m hugely grateful for the support of our readers, and the performance of our staff also deserves the highest praise.”
The UK's top 10-selling regional daily newspapers (January-June 2021) were:
:: Aberdeen - Press & Journal - 31,629
:: Irish News - 28,014
:: Dundee - The Courier - 25,235
:: Manchester Evening News - 22,107
:: Liverpool Echo - 22,069
:: Express & Star (West Midlands) - 19,683
:: Norwich - Eastern Daily Press - 18,445
:: Leeds - Yorkshire Post - 14,440
:: The Sentinel - 14,351
:: Shropshire Star -13,669