The Daily Telegraph dropped 0.95 per cent to 843,196 and The Times fell 1.33 per cent to 629,561. . The specialist Financial Times saw its circulation jump 5.19 per cent to 451,676 but is still down 0.89 per cent for the six month period April to October year on year.

The Independent, which raised its cover price to £1 in the second half of September, continued to see circulation crash and dropped 9.02 per cent to 201,019.

The popular press also saw poor results with The Sun ,which launched an aggressive advertising campaign to promote its 30 pence cover price at the start of the month, posting a circulation down 3 per cent to 3,060,447. The Daily Mirror fell 1.48 per cent to 1,419,335 and is down a sharp 7.07 per cent for the six months year-on-year.

The Daily Star, which slashed its cover price to 20 pence last week, recorded a circulation drop of 4.72 per cent and is down to 696,893. It will be hoping that the new price will be reflected in the figures for November.

It looks like the furore surrounding Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross BBC scandal, with which the tabloids went to town, fell outside the ABC October dates.

In the mid-market the Daily Mail, under the command of Guy Zitter, recently promoted to managing director of Mail Newspapers, posted a circulation down 2.57 per cent to 2,184,165 . The Daily Express actually managed a 0.42 per cent rise to 742,142.

The Sunday market proved more resilient with the quality newspapers up in the main. However, The Independent on Sunday suffered a 9.18 per cent to 165,764. All the popular titles tumbled with the News of the World down 3.19 per cent to 3,138,782.

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