El País sees 3.8% growth and consolidates its position as Spain’s leading newspaper

As it prepares to celebrate its 35th birthday, El País has confirmed its lead among the Spanish non-giveaway newspapers. Readership was up by 3.8% to 1,997,000 readers a day, and the lead it enjoys over its closest competitor was up by 17% to 752,000 readers, according to data from the Estudio General de Medios (EGM) for the first quarter of 2011.

While competitors reported significant decreases El País recorded an average daily sales figure of 413,294 copies, a 7.4% increase over the previous year. 945,000 of these readers - 47% - do not read any other daily newspaper.

By region, the paper enjoys a strong lead in Andalusia (231,000 readers), a figure well ahead of the second-ranking newspaper and the rest of the local press. The paper also  maintains its lead in Madrid with 655,000 readers, 272,000 more than its nearest competitor. There was also significant growth in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (251,000 readers, +9.6%), Valencia (209,000, +8%) and Galicia (126,000, +6%). In these regions the newspaper remains the most widely read national newspaper, with significant differences over the competition.

El País Semanal  reported 2,134,000 readers. Its advertising is co-marketed with Dominical, and together they have a total of 2,690,000 readers. 1,674,000 of these do not read any other newspaper supplement. Both supplements are leaders in 17 provinces, including Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and in the regional communities of Madrid, Catalonia and Castilla-La Mancha.

Among other Grupo PRISA publications, there was robust performance from sports daily As, which reported 1,440,000 readers. It is the country's third-ranking non-giveaway paper, and it enjoyed growth of 3.2% over the previous quarter. Cinco Días has 64,000 readers.

On the Internet, the group's websites maintained their upward trend, reporting a total audience of 6,918,000 users every month. Elpais.com reached 3,261,000 (up 17.6% from the third quarter of 2010) and as.com, with 2,155,000 users, has grown by 21%. Among the top 15 sites monitored by the EGM, four belong to PRISA: elpais.com and as.com  Los40.com  (1,701,000 users) and cadenaser.com  (1,010,000).