News UK says: Most are billed for £7.99 a month, the equivalent of buying a print copy four times a week.
The number has grown significantly since the last published figures in December 2013, when total full price subscribers were nearly 66,000, with another 36,000 on a discounted trial. A further 15,000 accessed digital products through codes in the print edition.
Combining the 225,000 digital subscribers with the latest published ABC figures (October - 1,978,000) sees The Sun’s total paid sales (Mon-Sat) at 2,203,000 versus 2,253,000 in the previous year - a decline of 2.2%. This compares to an annual decline of nearly 8% for the middle/popular sector of the market in October. The Sun on Sunday’s total paid sales is at 1,846,000 compared to 1,944,000 a year ago - a decline of 5% against a decline of 10.4% for the sector over the same period.
The Sun’s digital growth has ensured total paid sales are holding up well in a difficult economic market.
An expanding pool of sports rights, perks, online games and enhanced digital editions (smartphone, tablet and web) of The Sun’s unrivalled news, comment, and entertainment has helped propel its growth into new territories. There have been nearly 2 million views of goal clips this season by people using The Sun’s exclusive Goals app. A weekly Dream Team game that is exclusive to members has also attracted more than 100 thousand unique players.
Mike Darcey, Chief Executive Officer of News UK, which owns The Sun, said: “These figures are a powerful endorsement of our core strategy – providing the best product on every platform and leaving the customer to choose which format suits them. Our digital bundle is proving increasingly popular, ensuring that the total paid sales across print and digital combined are strong enough to ensure on-going investment in our future.”
David Dinsmore, Editor of The Sun, said: “Our legendary paper is making great in-roads into the digital market, and continuously building on our offer to readers. These figures are a promising start to our ambitious plans to offer loyal readers unrivalled content on every platform. They also confirm that customers will pay for digital content when it is original and of the highest quality.”
Dream Team, which offers armchair football managers the chance to build fantasy line-ups, proved instrumental in the latest digital surge and the numbers can be expected to vary as the season progresses. In addition new perks are constantly being added to the digital mix, and new sports rights, including highlights of the Champions’ League from next Autumn, will complement the current offering of Premier League, Scottish Premier League, rugby, cricket, Gaelic football and hurling.
