Richard DesmondRichard Desmond's Daily Star Sunday was the big winner last Sunday on the first weekend since the closure of the News of the World. The tabloid more than tripled its normal sale, racking up a figure of 1.1m. Other titles also pulled in readers, but the total increase was below the NotW's 2.67m average sale.

Papers had to work hard to pick up those former NotW readers. The Daily Star Sunday mounted a big TV advertising push and gave away a free OK! Extra supplement. That helped put on 700,000 sales, but as Desmond optimistically printed 2.2m copies, that still left more than 1m unsold.

Sunday Mirror

Unofficial figures reported by Brand Republic say the Sunday Mirror almost doubled its usual 1.1m circulation, securing close to two million sales. The paper cut it's cover price by half to 50p and also invested heavily in TV advertising. The Mirror also doubled its usual 1m print run.

Trinity's other Sunday, The People, saw its circulation rise to 900,000 from the June average of 475,000. The Mail on Sunday put on 15% as it sale went from 1.92m to 2.2m. No figures are yet available for Desmond's other title the Sunday Express.

The battle is bound to intensify over the coming weeks. News International dominated the Sunday market with a 38% share before the NotW was closed. Now it has just 14.3% of the total Sunday market, including the broadsheets, just ahead of Desmond's Express Newspapers which has a 12.1% share.

Associated Newspapers

Associated Newspapers and Trinity Mirror have around 28% of the market each, but one of the reasons Associated is seen as being in a better position is that it can concentrate its efforts on its one title, the Mail, while Trinity's focus is spread across the Mirror, People and Scotland's Sunday Mail.

There are rumours that Associated is considering the launch of a mass-market Sunday tabloid, and of course the chances of News International launching a Sunday version of The Sun, probably to coincide with the start of the football season in mid-August, remain high.

What all this shows is that despite declining sales there's still money to be made, and a continuing appetite for the same tabloid fare everyone has supposedly been so outraged about. Headlines last Sunday included 'Katie too thin to get pregnant' and 'Lotto couple on the run'.