National newspaper cover prices in the UK 2024

As of 2024, the most expensive national newspaper for UK consumers was FT Weekend (a supplement to the weekend edition of the Financial Times) at five British pounds and ten pence per copy. By contrast, The i and Daily Star both came out at under one pound each. The i cost just 20 pence back in 2014, meaning that the paper's cover price increased by more than fourfold over the last decade. A number of national papers cost over three GBP in 2024, including The Observer, The Sunday Times, and the Saturday edition of The Guardian.

Circulation continues to fall

Between 2022 and 2023, data on 14 large national newspapers in the UK showed a drop in paid circulation among every publication. Sunday People suffered a decline of almost 20 percent, and Daily Star, Daily Record, and Daily Mirror saw a decrease of 14 percent. With the price of newspapers on the up and the cost-of-living crisis ongoing, it seems unrealistic to expect British consumers to invest in newspapers, and circulation is unlikely to improve. But will consumers invest in online subscriptions?

Digital news subscriptions are also costly

A number of news subscriptions available to UK news consumers cost in excess of 200 British pounds per year, and most were around the 100 GBP mark. For the 38.9 percent of UK consumers spending between 51 and 100 GBP on online grocery each week, persuading them to invest a similar amount in just one news publication is challenging.