The average shop made greater profits on the i and the Mail in May than the same time last year. This comes de­spite continued declines in newspaper circulation on these titles.

ABC figures for last month show that the average retailer selling the i newspaper made 4% more than in May 2024 on weekdays, and 1% more on the Daily Mail, thanks to price increases over the past year. The Financial Times was also more profitable for retailers this May than it was a year ago, again thanks to price increases.

Daily Mail Group ac­count director Andy Law attributed the i’s suc­cess to its relaunch and redesign in late 2024. He stated the positive reader response to the refresh is having “a huge influence in the sales performance”.

Unlike the i and the Mail, the Financial Times (FT) Monday-to-Friday’s profits were also up in May compared to the previous month, with a 1% increase compared to 1% declines on both the Mail and i.

May Monday-Friday newspaper sales

May Saturday newspaper sales

May Sunday newspaper sales

1 Core sales are newstrade sales and pre-paid subscriptions in the UK and Ireland; 2 ERM is the total income to retailers for one day’s sales, calculated using
margin statistics printed in RN; 3 Total sales includes bulk sales

Saturday profits on i also improve in May

Saturdays saw a sig­nificant boost to stores’ i newspaper profits, with an 8% increase in margins compared to May of 2024.

Of papers still publish­ing their sales data, The iWeekend was the only weekend title to experi­ence an increase in retail­ers’ cash profits year on year, with the Saturday edition of the Daily Mail and the FT both experi­encing no change and all other titles declining.

The Mail on Sunday re­mained the most-success­ful Sunday paper to report ABC figures, and was the only title to achieve a year-on-year decline lower than 15%. Conversely, the Sunday Mail and Sunday People suffered the great­est losses. Each lost one in five paying readers in the past year alone.

Read more news and advice about the newspaper and magazines category and click here for the latest ABC circulation figures