From Zarach and The Independent — thank you!

This year’s Independent Christmas campaign was in support of Zarach, and aimed to provide bed bundles for 500 children in time for Christmas. Each bundle included a child’s bed and mattress, a duvet and pillow, bed linen, a hygiene kit, pyjamas, a reading book and a £30 supermarket voucher for a family Christmas meal. 

As well as extensive reporting on the shameful fact that 900,000 children in the UK currently do not have a bed of their own, whilst telling the stories of families impacted, we attracted high profile support from people including Angela Rayner, the Dean of St Paul’s and Gordon Brown, with large, generous donations from the likes of the Hinduja family, Sir Lloyd Dorfman and Nationwide.

We are thrilled to say that — thanks to your help — we were able to exceed that initial target, raising £150,000! The campaign, which attracted attention from BBC Breakfast and LBC, has so far funded 931 bed bundles — almost double the goal.

Read more here about how the bed bundles have changed the lives of Karl and his brother.

You can continue to support Zarach’s vital work here.

UK figures: The Independent turns up the heat on other news brands once more

The November figures for Ipsos iris show another brilliant month for The Independent.

Highlights:

• In the UK, The Independent reached 21.8m readers in November (+4% month-on-month and +2% year-on-year)
• The Independent was the only digital news brand* in the UK to show MoM growth and the fastest growing title YoY
• The Independent overtook The Guardian 20.9m (-5% MoM) to become the largest quality digital news brand once again
• Overall, news brands’ total cumulative reach declined -3% MoM and -11% YoY
• Indy100 was significantly up year-on-year, growing +134% to 1.3m
• The Independent remains the largest pureplay* news brand in the UK whilst Indy100 is the third biggest

Source: © Ipsos, Ipsos iris Online Audience Measurement Service, November 2023, Brand Group – Digital Quality News Brands* & *pureplays, all adults age: 15+, UK *Note: Custom defined list by Independent. The Independent Brand Group audience includes Indy 100 data