THE Irish News has maintained its position as the best performing regional daily newspaper in both the UK and Ireland, new industry figures reveal.

According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), the body which independently verifies and reports on media performance, The Irish News had average daily paid sales of 27,096 during the January-June half year.

That was down 3.3 per cent based on the equivalent period in 2021, but was easily the smallest decline of all the UK titles which had their sales scrutinised.

It also means the paper has recorded the best year-on-year percentage change figures for all but one of the six-monthly audits since 2018.

The Irish News also remains the second biggest-selling regional daily in the UK, and has closed the sales gap on Aberdeen's Press & Journal, whose daily sales fell by 9.9 per cent to 28,482.

Sales at the News Letter in the first six months of this year were down by 11.9 per cent to 8,374 a day.

The Belfast Telegraph is among a number of titles which have chosen not to have their paper sales officially audited by the ABC.

Overall, regional print daily newspapers in the UK saw their circulations fall by an average of 16 per cent year-on-year over the period, with titles like the Yorkshire Evening Post and Hull Daily Mail dropping by 19.1 per cent and 20.1 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile figures in the most the Target Group Index (TGI) survey also showed that The Irish News has an average daily readership of 151,000 and accounts for a 10 per cent market share of all newspapers in the north.

Irish News group marketing and communications manager Annette McManus said: “We're delighted The Irish News has managed to maintain its position as the best performing daily title in both the overall Irish market, north and south, and the UK regional sector.”

She added: “I'm hugely grateful for the support of our readers, and the performance of our staff also deserves the highest praise.”

The UK's top 10-selling regional daily newspapers in January-June 2022 (based on fully-paid sales) are:

:: Aberdeen Press & Journal 28,482

:: Irish News 27,096

:: Dundee Courier 22,168

:: Manchester Evening News 20,286

:: Liverpool Echo 18,496

:: Eastern Daily Press 16,413

:: Express & Star Wolverhampton 16,165

:: Yorkshire Post 12,408

:: Shropshire Star 11,998

:: Stoke Sentinel 11,855