How many copies do the great newspapers of Catalonia and Spain really sell? The latest figures from the OJD (Office of Justification of Circulation), still awaiting confirmation, which were revealed today by El Español, paint a terrifying picture: almost no one is safe.
The fall over the last decade seems unstoppable. In September 2008, El País, one of Spain's newspapers of record, sold 332,808 copies. Today, although it's still the Spanish leader, it only sells 89,079 - that's 74% fewer.
The other large papers all tell similar stories: between them, the six largest newspapers in Spain (El País, El Mundo, Abc, La Razón, La Vanguardia and El Periódico) sold 316,942 copies this September. That's 16,000 fewer than El País sold just by itself a decade ago.
Catalan newspaper sales
As for the papers published in Catalonia, in September 2017 El Periódico, fifth Spain-wide by number of copies sold, dispatched 36,203; in September this year, it's sold 32,008, 11.6% fewer. Last September, La Vanguardia, sixth Spain-wide, sold 27,900 copies a day; this year, that's down to 23.511 a day, 15.7% fewer.
Back in Madrid, El País fell 7.66% from 96,472 to 89,079 from September 2017 to September 2018. El Mundo went from 63,320 to 56,640 and Abc from 57,725 to 54,486. Surprisingly in this context, one paper managed to see growth, namely right-wing La Razón, which went from 55,254 to 60,938.
Circulation
As for circulation, which adds subscription copies, free copies and others to newsstand sales, the figures are obviously higher, but the drop is just as spectacular.
El País has tumbled from 172,053 to 123.354 between September 2017 and 2018, a drop of 28%. Over the same time, La Vanguardia, second in terms of circulation, fell from 104,305 to 96,671, 7.3% fewer, dipping below 100,000 copies. A decade ago, its circulation was as high as 201,858.
Third Spain-wide for circulation is La Razón, the only one to show any growth: 87,197 to 93,808. Moving in the other direction are El Mundo (97,449 to 90,543) and Abc (80,180 to 76,829).
In sixth place comes El Periódico. The paper sees its circulation fall from 71,537 to 58,527 copies, 18.2% fewer. 10 years ago, it would sell 152,116.