Sunday papers see post-News of the World sales boost start to slip

The Sunday Mirror and Mail on Sunday are understood to have shed about 300,000 sales between them last weekend, as the discount frenzy and price-cutting strategy adopted to attract former News of the World readers starts to be scaled back. The Sunday Mirror, which on Sunday 24 June hit an 11-year sales high of more than 2m copies, is thought to have fallen back by about 100,000 sales on Sunday to just over 1.9m. The drop in sales coincided with the decision to revert to a £1 cover price in most of the country – the title slashed its price from £1 to 50p in a number of regions in the two weeks following the closure of the News of the World – although the paper was still sold for 75p in London and the south-east on Sunday. The Sunday Mirror, which has also cut back on heavy promotions such as the £6 Morrisons deal it has been running on the front page, has been the biggest beneficiary of new readers following the demise of the NoW. It had previously been selling about 1.1m copies each week. Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday is thought to have shed about 200,000 sales week on week to 2.2m, still 300,000 ahead of typical Sunday sales in the months before NoW's closure. MoS, which had cut its cover price from £1.50 to £1, maintained its discount in the capital and the south-east but pushed the price back up to £1.30 across the rest of the UK. The title had also been running a £5 tie-up with Tesco on the front page. However, Trinity Mirror's stablemate The People is thought to have upped sales by about 40,000 week on week, to above 900,000, despite being put back up from the discounted 75p to its regular price of £1. The title has been a massive sales winner, having sold about 475,000 copies each week prior to NoW's closure. Richard Desmond's Sunday Express, which was selling about 540,000 copies a week before the closure of NoW, is thought to have seen a "marginal" sales boost to just over 700,000. The newspaper has maintained a cover-price cut from £1.35 to £1. Stablemate the Daily Star Sunday is thought to have slipped back by around 20,000 to 730,000 sales – somewhere in the region of 70,000 copies week on week – although still well up on the 300,000 copies it was selling before Now's closure. Desmond's Daily Star Sunday has maintained its cover price at £1 but is trying to lure readers with a new magazine, OK! Extra, which aims to fill the void left when NoW's magazine Fabulous moved to publishing on a Saturday. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook