Author: Mintel Group Ltd.
Last saved by: HTTP server

National Newspapers: Inc Impact of COVID-19 - UK - May 2020
Overview
 
What you need to know 
COVID-19 will have a significant impact on national newspapers in 2020, as it will on most markets. While circulation of print newspapers has been in significant decline for many years, the drop will be far steeper in 2020 as government restrictions keep people at home and therefore less likely to purchase print newspapers. Online readership of national newspapers is surging as people try to keep up with the rapidly changing crisis, and greater willingness to pay online is being shown. However, a sharp drop in digital advertising revenue means that newspapers are struggling to financially benefit from the surge in online readership. 

Outside of the coronavirus crisis context, more publishers had already been reporting positive increases in digital subscription take-up, which many titles see as the key to long-term financial stability. Audio is also becoming a more important content format for newspapers, with publishers releasing new podcasts and radio stations. 

National newspapers, especially popular tabloid titles, have faced several high-profile controversies over the last year for their coverage of public figures. The most prominent have been about the treatment of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ahead of their decision to resign as senior royals and the coverage of Caroline Flack prior to her suicide. Such high-profile controversies have the potential to negatively impact the reputation of titles and sales, particularly among younger people.

Key issues covered in this Report
This Report looks at the following areas:
●	The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour in the UK national newspapers market. 
●	How COVID-19 will impact market performance.
●	Changing national newspaper readership and payment behaviour. 
●	Consumer attitudes towards national newspapers.
●	Perception of national newspaper coverage on key issues in the last year. 

Products covered in this Report
For the purposes of this Report, national newspapers are defined as those newspapers that are circulated throughout the UK (United Kingdom) and their digital operations. In most respects this Report adheres to ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) practice when determining which newspapers are national.

The term ‘circulation’ refers to the number of copies of a print newspaper that are sold or delivered to consumers.

The Report uses the ABC classifications of Popular, Mid-market and Quality throughout.

Currently, as monitored by ABC, the three sectors include the following titles:

Popular: Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Record, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, Daily Star Sunday, Sunday People, Sunday Mail, Sunday Mirror.

Mid-market: Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Mail on Sunday, Sunday Express, The Sunday Post.

Quality: The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian, The Independent, i, The Times, Independent on Sunday, The Observer, The Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Times, iWeekend.

Specialist national sports papers such as the Racing Post are excluded.

Mintel classifies the London Evening Standard and the Metro titles as regionals. These titles are explored in Mintel’s Regional Newspapers – UK, July 2019 Report.

Only print national newspaper are included in Mintel’s market size and forecast figures as there is not enough consistent data available from ABC regarding digital national newspapers in order to calculate a digital market size.

This report is supplied in accordance with Mintel's terms and conditions.  
© Mintel Group Ltd.