Thursday 18 August 2016 12:55 pm

Newspapers still benefiting from Brexit bounce despite July circulation dip

By: William Turvill

National newspapers appear to have maintained some momentum from their Brexit bounce.

The circulations of several paid-for newspapers jumped up in June, the month of the EU referendum.

The total circulations of the UK’s 19 paid-for national newspapers jumped 1.5 per cent from 12.34m in May to 12.52m in June, according to figures from ABC.

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And new figures for July, out today, show that newspapers, overall, have maintained some of the gains from June. The total average circulation of the 19 papers came in at 12.45m – down 0.7 per cent on June, but still up 0.8 per cent on May.

The Observer (down 5.4 per cent month-on-month to 193,953), Sunday Times (down 3.9 per cent to 775,188) and Guardian (down 3.1 per cent to 166,493) were the biggest fallers in July.

The biggest growers, meanwhile, were the i (up 1.1 per cent to 297,453), Daily Star (up 0.7 per cent to 516,856) and Sunday Express (up 0.4 per cent to 373,775).

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Vanessa Clifford, deputy chief executive of Newsworks, said: “The July ABC data shows that readers can fall in love with print again and that the previous month’s figures were more than a sales spike driven by the Brexit vote.

“Sometimes it takes a significant event to remind people of the role and importance of trusted brands for reliable news and informed opinion.”