MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=details&nNewsID=558916United KingdomThe Financial Times is apparently in the pink circulation wise – boasting an 8.3 per centincrease year-on-year to 462,235. This was by far the best performance of any national dailyand a turnaround from the FT’s steady decline of recent years. A closer look at the datareveals, however, that the FT’s core UK and Ireland sale is continuing to decline – down to132,699 from 137,287 a year ago. And this is despite several thousand more give-awaycopies, or bulks, on the UK figures than a year ago – these now total 32,370. The FT’s growthis coming from its overseas editions – about which we have less detailed audit information.Circulation of the US edition has increased to 147,437, compared with 125,104 a year ago,and the Asia edition has gone up from 35,242 to 46,602. Elsewhere, the daily newspapers hada tough month. The red-top market declined by 4.26 per cent year-on-year to a total sale of6,026,742; the mid-market titles by 3.11 per cent and the quality mornings by 0.65 per cent.The Guardian’s berliner size relaunch last September may have won it a string of awards –but sales wise the benefits are now drying up. It slipped back 1.38 per cent month-on-monthand was up just 1.93 per cent year-on-year to 374,580 – a long way short from its historic400,000 bedrock sales figure. In the Sunday market, the heavily promoted Independent onSunday and Observer stand out with remarkable double-digit growth performances: the IoSwas up 22.92 per cent year-on-year to 258,368 and The Observer just above the half millionmark thanks to a 11.12 per cent increase. The Sportsman, Britain's first new national dailynewspaper in 20 years, achieved a launch circulation of 21,819. Sportsman chairman JeremyDeedes said: "We are encouraged by April's sales figure in a month when sales were asecondary concern to promotion and visibility. "Now we know exactly where we are, we canembark on sales beyond the newsstands themselves — like the foreign gambling centres,corporate hospitality and direct to the racing and betting industry as we gear up for the allimportantWorld Cup. We are also steadily improving the distribution of the paper." Sales ofestablished betting daily, the Racing Post, were down 4.55 per cent year-on-year to 81,228.http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/120506/us_financial_times_newspaper_circulation_pink; 12 May 2006United States of AmericaMedia-entertainment giant News Corp. said its most recent quarterly profit more than doubledto 820 million dollars, led by strong growth in its Fox television and cable operations. Theresults were also boosted by a gain on the sale of its investment in Mexican satellite entityInnova, which reaped 206 million dollars. The New York-based company, formerlyheadquartered in Australia and headed by Rupert Murdoch, said net income in the third fiscalquarter to March 31 amounted to 26 cents a share. Analysts had expected on average a profitof 20 cents per share excluding special items. Revenue rose 3.3 percent from the same perioda year ago to 6.20 billion dollars. News Corp. said operating income in the cable unit rose 23percent on increased affiliate revenue at the Regional Sports Networks and advertisingstrength at Fox News Channel. In broadcast television, operating profits rose 29 percent onimproved ratings at the US-based Fox network and advertising growth at Asia-based STARTelevision. In film entertainment, including Twentieth Century Fox Studios, profits dippedslightly to 225 million dollars, reflecting the record strength a year earlier of homeentertainment sales of film and television titles. Murdoch said he was optimistic aboutInternet properties, including the recently acquired MySpace social networking website. "Thisquarter also saw accelerated progress in our new media evolution," he said. "MySpaceexpanded to over 70 million registered users, solidifying its prominence as one of the fastestgrowing sites on the Internet. We also launched Mobizzo, a comprehensive new destination8