Sunday papers hold onto high sales

The Sunday newspapers mostly held onto their surge in sales, at the weekend, following the closure of the News of the World.

Unsurprisingly rival newspapers have sought to cash-in on the demise of the News of the World by luring its three million viewers to their own papers using price-slashes, special offers, discounts and free magazines to entice them in. For the second weekend following the closure of the News International titles the rival papers held onto the rise in sales they enjoyed the previous week. The Sunday Mirror saw a rise in sales once more with over 2 million copies sold – the first time it has broken past that mark in over a decade. That’s a rise of nearly 1 million copies on its average weekend competing against News of the World.  Trinity Mirror’s other (Sunday only) paper The People also enjoyed a rise in sales with just under 1 million sales.

The Mail on Sunday meanwhile slashed its price down to £1 and has admitted that despite the rise in sales it isn’t covering its costs at the moment because of the price drop – to secure more readers. The Mail On Sunday sold 2.4 million copies making it the most successful newspaper of the day. Parent company DMGT has already admitted it is considering launching a red-top tabloid on Sundays to fill the void left behind by the closure of News of the World.

The Sunday Express sold over 700,000 copies while fellow Desmond title Daily Star Sunday dropped somewhat to around 800,000 copies sold – a fall on the week before but still a significant rise on average Sunday’s pre-NOTW closure. Will the strong sales continue though if News International does launch The Sun on Sunday, or another tabloid, as it is widely expected to do?