The Irish Times had combined average daily sales of 77,657 copies for its print and ePaper editions in the first half of 2017, down 5 per cent year-on-year, new figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) show.
The company said the total number of people who hold subscriptions to The Irish Times, across all categories, including digital and home delivery, now exceeds 60,000.
The audited digital edition, known as the ePaper, recorded daily sales of 15,234 for this period. This was up 54 per cent year-on-year, as more people switched from print to digital.
The ABC figures show that the Irish print newspaper market declined once again in the first half, in an unbroken trend that began 10 years ago.
The daily market declined 9.3 per cent year-on-year, with 422,415 copies sold on an average day. Sales in the Sunday market fell 7.6 per cent, with 618,866 newspapers now sold each Sunday.
The average daily print circulation of The Irish Times was 62,423 from January to June. This was down 13 per cent on the same period in 2016, with the fall partly the result of the withdrawal of the newspaper from Britain.
Not all digital subscribers buy the ePaper as part of their packages, which is one reason why the 60,000 subscriber figure is higher than the audited digital one.
The Irish Independent had a combined print and digital edition circulation of 96,478, down 7 per cent. The Independent News & Media (INM) title had a print circulation of 94,502, down 8 per cent.
Circulation drop
The Irish Examiner, which is owned by Landmark Media Investments, saw its circulation drop below the 30,000 mark to 28,338, down 8.5 per cent.
The Irish Daily Star had a circulation of 44,925 in the Republic of Ireland, down 7 per cent, while the Irish Daily Mail's circulation south of the Border was 40,077, down 12 per cent.
The Irish Sun had sales of 55,676 in the Republic, down 8 per cent, and the Irish Daily Mirror's circulation was 34,088, down 11 per cent.
The Times, which launched an Ireland edition in print form in June, recorded an average circulation of 3,946 in January to June, up 52 per cent. The title used multiple copies, or bulks, this year, but didn't do this in the same period in 2016.
Its publisher, News Corp UK & Ireland, said the Ireland edition of the Times now had 10,000 digital subscribers.
The Herald, published by INM, had a circulation of 39,093, down 11.3 per cent.
The Sunday Independent's average circulation was 185,080, down 7.1 per cent, while the Sunday World's was 143,503, down 11.9 per cent.
The Sunday Business Post stayed above the 30,000 mark with an average circulation of 30,202, down 3.7 per cent.
The Sunday Times had a circulation of 79,751 in the Republic, up 3 per cent. Like its daily sister title, it used bulk copies in the first half of 2017, but had not done so in the same period in 2016.
The circulation in the Republic of the Irish Sun on Sunday was 51,142, down 12 per cent, while the Irish Sunday Mirror dropped 14 per cent to 22,903 and the Irish Mail on Sunday's average sales in the Republic only were 10 per cent lower at 70,535.
