U.K.’s Daily Mail Tabloid Raises Cover Price as Advertising Sales Decline

Daily Mail and General Trust Plc is increasing the weekday cover price of the Daily Mail newspaper for the first time in more than three years to counter declining advertising revenue.

The price for the Monday to Friday edition will rise to 55 pence from 50 pence starting next week, the London-based company said in a statement today on PR Newswire. Prices for the Saturday edition and the Mail on Sunday will remain unchanged.

Ad revenue for the 13 weeks to July 3 is 7 percent lower than a year earlier at Associated Newspapers, the national media arm of DMGT, the company said. Print publishers have struggled with declining circulations and falling ad sales as consumer spending is crimped by rising inflation and advertisers focus on the Internet.

The Daily Mail is the second-most popular title in the U.K. with an average net circulation of 2,068,632 copies as of the end of May, according to Audit Bureau of Circulation figures.

The Mail on Sunday was the second-biggest Sunday title, behind News Corp. (NWSA)’s News of the World, which closed last week in the wake of phone-hacking allegations. Advertisers had boycotted the title after allegations that reporters had tapped the voicemails of murder victims and their families and paid police officers for stories.

DMGT shares fell 4.1 percent to 421.3 pence at the 4:30 p.m. close in London trading. The stock has dropped 27 percent this year, giving the company a market value of 1.6 billion pounds ($2.6 billion). Trinity Mirror Plc (TNI), which publishes the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror titles, finished 1.2 percent higher at 41 pence.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kira Savcenko in London at ksavcenko@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Colin Keatinge at ckeatinge@bloomberg.net