El Pais confirms its leadership with more than 2.2 million readers

El País reaches 2,218,000 readers daily, confirming its leadership among the non-giveaway press, according to third-quarter data from the audit, Estudio General de Medios (EGM). Grupo PRISA's daily paper has grown 8 per cent over the past three years, and this is the second time in the paper's history that the figure has passed the 2.2 million mark for an accumulated annual figure. The gap between El País and its nearest rival is 870,000 readers, 4 per cent up on this time last year.

In Andalucia, the paper's figure is 284,000, making it the leader within the sector of non-giveaway Spanish general-interest press. The paper is up 6.4 per cent there , well ahead of other national and regional papers.

The paper is also well ahead in Madrid at 709,000 readers, some 300,000 more than the next non-giveaway paper. It is also the most-read paper in Valencia (220,000 readers) and in Galicia (117,000 readers). The figure for the Basque Country is up 6.2 per cent over the past year.

These figures confirm the upward trend of El Pais, already evident from circulation figures. The latest data to be certified by the auditing body Oficina de Justificación de la Difusión (OJD), from July 2007-June 2008, also illustrate the paper's leading position, with 440,290 copies, up 2.1 per cent over the previous period.