London 2012 allows some Sunday nationals to increase sales - The Guardian

AppId is over the quota
ABC figures show that Sunday papers may not have set the world on fire, but most increased sales during London 2012. Photograph: Hou Jun/Xinhua/Corbis

The majority of UK's national Sunday newspapers bucked the trend of traditional August circulation declines with modest month-on-month gains on the back of the Olympics coverage.

Among the small increases reported by the papers, the Sunday Mirror was among the biggest winners recording a 2.16% increase on the previous month. Sales increased to 1,101,206 in August from July's figure of 1,077, 882, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Friday.

The Independent on Sunday was also up month-on-month, by 4.16% on July's figure of 118,759 to record a circulation in August of 123,696 copies. Traditionally, the holiday month of August is when circulation slips as readers break their normal newspaper reading routines and go on holiday.

National newspaper websites will also be expecting a more hefty traffic boost when ABC figures for August are published later this month.

In August, the Sunday Telegraph was up 1.59% month-on-month to 463,733, while the Observer reported a 0.47% gain to record a 246,245 circulation last month, up on July's figure of 245,094.

Among the mid-market titles, the Sunday Express increased sales 0.48% month-on-month to 505,900 from 503,492 in July; while rival title the Mail on Sunday increased its circulation month on month by 1.8% from 1,779,449 in July to 1,811,463.

Taken year on year, however, the picture for the Sunday redtop and mid-market sectors looked bleaker, with all five titles bar the Sunday edition of the Sun reporting sizeable drops, reflecting how the circulation gains made last summer as a consequence of closure of the News of the World in July were subsequently wiped out.

Year-on-year, the Daily Star Sunday was down 40.99%, the Sunday Mirror down 42.06% and the People down 48.66%.

The Sunday Express was down 25.36% year on year, while the Mail on Sunday was down 13.67%.

All the quality Sunday title's were also down year on year, although the declines were generally less severe than among the tabloids.

More details soon...

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook.