Early estimates suggest national titles enjoyed boost of up to 25% on day after event

Guardian
John Plunkett

The royal wedding gave UK national newspapers a much-needed circulation boost over the weekend, with early industry estimates suggesting that some titles enjoyed a sales increase of up to 25% on Saturday compared with the previous week.

The Guardian is understood to have sold more than 500,000 copies on the day after the wedding of the newly annointed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with the Times selling nearly 700,000. Both papers were up about 25% on the sale of the previous Saturday, 24 April.

There was a smaller uplift for the Independent, whose sale – said to be around the 230,000 mark – was about 10% up on the previous Saturday.

The Daily Telegraph fell somewhere in between, with a sale of around 950,000 representing an increase of nearly 20% on seven days earlier. All four newspapers were also up – though less markedly – on the same Saturday in 2010.

Most national titles published special royal wedding supplements on Saturday as they sought to capitalise on reader interest in the event.

The royal wedding TV audience peaked at more than 24 million viewers, with the BBC beating ITV1 by about three to one.