A large majority of those reading newspapers were presented with arguments in favour of leaving the EU in the run-up to the referendum, according to Press Gazette.
The combined claimed circulations of national newspapers favouring Brexit was 6,755,480, against 4,993,934 favouring staying in the EU. The circulations of those not declaring was 2,733,504, making up a combined claimed circulation of 14,482,918.
For the record the bias and the circulations were:-
LEAVE
Daily Express 419,328 Daily Mail 1,545,473 Sunday Express 365,071 Daily Telegraph 498,474 Sun 1,716,361 Sun on Sunday 1,413,493 Sunday Times 797,280
STAY
Daily Mirror 785,717 London Eve. Std 900,175 Free Sunday Mirror 709,495 Mail on Sunday 1,374,864 Observer 194,054 Times 436,692 Guardian 169,424 FT (UK) 63,178 Daily Record 172,699 Sunday Mail 187,636
NO VIEW
Daily Star 513,233 Daily Star Sunday 316,224 i 284,434 Metro 1,347,594 Free Sunday People 272,019
Note. Some feel that free newspapers, distributed indiscriminately, will not have the same power to persuade as those people choose to pay for. Some circulations are boosted by copies being given to hotels. Some feel that the circulations of daily newspapers should be multiplied by six to correctly compare with the circulations of newspapers only published on a Sunday.
Note: The following piece was published in the Marketing Matters Jul/Aug 2016 ISSUE 51.