News of the World readers vanish as rivals fail to deliver

THE ailing newspaper industry appears to have been dealt another blow by the latest national readership figures, which show that half the readers of the now defunct News of the World were not tempted to take another Sunday tabloid instead and have vanished from the newspaper market.

Guardian media blogger Roy Greenslade notes that the News of the World was Britain’s most popular newspaper, read by 7.2m readers every Sunday. Readership figures comparing the market before and after its closure in early July show that only half of them have moved to other newspapers while the other half have given up, despite numerous half-price deals and other incentives offered by rivals this summer.
 
The Sunday Mirror has benefited the most, with readership rising by an estimated 21 per cent since its rival bowed out. The Sunday edition of the Star has piled on another 250,000 readers.
 
Anecdotal evidence from newsagents suggests that most people who took the NotW as a second title - it was a great favourite of Sunday Telegraph readers - have reverted to buying just one Sunday paper.
 
In the summer there was speculation that other companies, most notably Mail owners Associated Newspapers, were planning to launch new Sunday titles to take advantage, but none has materialised.
 
The failure of the defunct paper's rivals to grab a slice of the market may add impetus to News International's efforts to bring out a Sun on Sunday. Earlier this month The Guardian reported that it was gearing up for a 2012 launch. ·