Irrelevant circulation figures
According to Press Gazette there is good news for the Guardian and the Times as they record 7% and 9% year-on-year increases for October. Plus…
There is also cause for celebration at The Independent where sales for October grew to a new peak for its tabloid era, up 0.38 per cent year-on-year to 267,037.
But all of this should be taken with a pinch of salt, particularly when changes are so small. The circulation figure is a daily average, and newspapers sell different volumes on different days of the week. MediaGuardian explains that today:
On Saturday, 25% more newspapers are sold than on an average weekday, with Sunday close behind at 13% above weekdays.
Similarly for other days of the week, though the differences will be less pronounced. So comparing year on year is only realistic if every day of the week occurs exactly the same number of times in both the month being measured and the corresponding month in the previous year. Since this never happens, year-on-year comparisons are irrelevant at the level of 1 or 2%.
Press Gazette isn’t alone. Here’s MediaGuardian again:
The London Evening Standard boosted its month on month sales by 0.47% to 329,247.
Which is nice, but the Standard is only sold on weekdays, and there were more weekdays in September than in October. So really you’d expect an increase.
Why the media watchers get all flustered about such meaningless changes I am yet to find out.
