The Press

Sunny joys

Dennis Hackett

The only people in the popular daily field who look forward happily to audited circulation figures are those rapacious labourers on the Sun, for whom this statistical measure of success has brought nought but joy throughout life with Rupert Murdoch.

The January-June figures are due in the next fortnight but the National Newsagent, which keeps a beady eye on the business, has already broken the news that once again the Sun is the only paper to show an increase and that the Mirror, Mail, Express have all suffered a further erosion in circulation.

The Sun is, of course, not entirely responsible for this, but it does seem to be garnering a large proportion of the disaffected readers of its competitors.

It is now selling, on average, more than 2,600,000 copies a day, which means it is up more than 100,000 on the previous six months and more than half a million on the same period a year ago.

The Daily Express enjoys a 600,000-sale in Scotland and if this is subtracted from Its sale of 3,350,000 it means that the Sun is selling nearly as many copies in England and Wales and is likely to sell more before Christmas.

The decline of the Express will come as no surprise to connoisseurs of the old bravura which kept it ahead of everyone in technique in the late 'fifties and early 'sixties.

It may even bring home to the present incumbent that big type and big names are not enough.

Some indication of the worry round at the old glasshouse could be evinced last weekend when the Express came on television with an advertisement of the supermarket variety, which has proved so successful for the Sun, less so for the Mirror. One of its advertised goodies was ' Skillball ' which Monday's Express called "the most exciting soccer contest ever" but which proved to be our hoary old friend spa-the-ball. You can see how rattled they are.

The Mirror itself is forecast to be below 4,300,000, being 100,000 down on six months ago and 90,000 down on the same period last year — and this despite what was possibly the heaviest expenditure on promotion in its history.

The Mail, too, will be considering what its sales pitch is going to be to its advertisers. It performs quite well (allowing for that pervasive snide political streak, which gives it an old-time illiberality so irritating now) but looks like being around the 1,700,000 mark, which is alleged to be its make-or-break figure.

I have, however, heard so many make-orbreak figures quoted for the Mail that I view this one with some doubt. Editorially I think it performs better than the Express and the poor showing of the latter is almost certainly giving it breathing space. A return to form by the Express would make that breathing space less than adequate, I feel; but fortunately for the Mail, it seems that such an event is unlikely.

The last successful editor of the Express was Mr Ted Pickering who now labours in the IPC Magazine vineyard, and since he went and Harold Keeble ceased to enliven the paper with his unequalled feeling for trend (" the Express picks up a trend when it's no bigger than a man's finger-nail on the horizon "), the Express has been nothing other than derivative.

In the quality field, I understand that both the Times and Guardian will be up, with the Times still slightly ahead, though it is surely unlikely to remain so.

The Daily Telegraph ploughs steadily on with its sensitive nose close to its furrow, enjoying the talent rare in Fleet Street these days, of knowing exactly what it is doing.

All in all it's been a satisfactory term for the qualities and an unsatisfactory one —with one outstanding exception — for the populars. There will be more cause for concern coming in the latter field when the figures for the popular Sundays — which lost 750,000 last year — are published. All are expected to be down again.