The Sun Always Shines (on the National Readership Survey)

A-ha I hear you cry! The first set of National Readership Survey (NRS) estimates for the new Sunday edition of The Sun have been released and, following its launch at the end of February, there are an estimated 6 million readers to an average Sunday issue (NRS April-June 2012).

The Sun is now the most widely read national newspaper across Monday-Friday, Saturday and Sunday readership. The Sun has taken over the top spot in the Sunday market from The Mail on Sunday, which had been reigning supreme since the closure of the News of the World in July last year.

So what impact has the launch of the Sunday edition of The Sun had on the Sunday newspaper market? Well, when the last estimate for the News of the World was published a year ago, total readership across all popular Sunday newspapers was 12.8 million. This fell to 6.2 million following NOTW’s demise, although we noted increased readership for the individual red-top titles in the market (The People, Sunday Mirror and Daily Star Sunday). Combined readership of these three titles was 7 million for data published for the March 2012 NRS release and now, for the June 2012 release, we see that the figure has jumped to 12 million with the inclusion of the Sunday edition of The Sun.

Post News of the World, the popular Sunday newspaper market would therefore appear to be in rude health once more, and the NRS will continue to track changes as the Sunday edition of The Sun establishes itself in the market.