What is The Times?
The Times is a national daily newspaper and website in the United Kingdom. Its Sunday stablemate is The Sunday Times, and the Audit Bureau of Circulations records News UK as the publisher of that title [2]. Both titles carry sport sections, and the awards programme described below is run under the Sunday title’s name.
The paper’s origin is a matter of two dates rather than one. The printer John Walter began publishing The Daily Universal Register in London in 1785, using a logographic typesetting system he had bought the previous year; "After publishing 939 issues of The Daily Universal Register, on January 1, 1788 Walter renamed this news the The Times" [1].
The Sunday Times runs an annual Sportswomen of the Year Awards programme in association with Vitality [4].
What does The Times cover?
The Times is a general newspaper whose sport section sits on a path of the main site. It is therefore not separately measured in the Ipsos iris ranking of UK sports news websites, which excludes the sport sections of general news publishers because they lack separate tracking [5].
The clearest documented sport commitment is the Sunday title’s awards programme. Sky Sports, writing on 9 September 2017 as a partner of the event, recorded that the awards were then "in their 30th year" and that they "celebrate the outstanding contribution to sport made by elite athletes, coaches, administrators, community volunteers and inspirational women", across seven categories: The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year, Young Sportswoman of the Year, the Vitality Team of the Year, Disability Sportswoman of the Year, a Community Award, the Helen Rollason Award for Inspiration and a Lifetime Achievement Award [4].
The 2025 edition was decided at a ceremony in February 2026. The Football Association reported that Ellie Kildunne of rugby union was named Sportswoman of the Year, the England Red Roses were named Team of the Year, Michelle Agyemang was named Young Sportswoman of the Year and the England head coach Sarina Wiegman received the Editor’s Choice Award; eligibility for the young category required nominees to have been 21 or under on 1 January 2025 [6].
How large is The Times' audience?
No current circulation figure is published for either title, and the reason is on the record. The Audit Bureau of Circulations lists The Sunday Times as holding a "Private Certificate", stating that "This publication is independently audited by ABC and has chosen to report privately in accordance with National Newspaper Reporting Standards", with August 2026 as the latest period certified and the figures given only as "Contact publisher" [2]. The audit therefore continues; the publication of its result does not.
The last public audited figures are several years old. Press Gazette, in an article updated on 14 September 2026 which states that it is no longer being updated "as most national newspapers have stopped sharing their ABC print circulation figures publicly", gives 365,880 for The Times in March 2020 and 647,622 for The Sunday Times in March 2020, and lists both titles among those that stopped reporting publicly [3].
No digital figure specific to The Times could be retrieved either. Press Gazette’s Ipsos iris reporting measures at owner level and does not give a separate figure for News UK in the top-25 ranking for April 2026 [7], and the sport section is not separately tracked at all [5]. No subscriber total for the title was retrieved.
Since when has The Times existed?
Publication began in 1785 under a different title. The Daily Universal Register was first issued by John Walter in London in that year, and the paper was renamed The Times on 1 January 1788 [1]. Founding and renaming are separate events and are given separately here; the 1785 date belongs to the Register and the 1788 date to the name.
The Sunday title is a distinct publication with its own ABC record, on which News UK is named as publisher [2]. No founding date for The Sunday Times, and no date for either title passing to its present owner, could be established from a source retrieved for this page.
The sport awards have their own timeline. They were in their thirtieth year in September 2017, which places their first edition around 1987 [4], and the most recent edition reported here was decided in February 2026 [6].
Why does The Times matter in the United Kingdom's sport?
The strongest documented claim is institutional rather than numerical. The Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards have run annually for decades, were in their thirtieth year in 2017, and carry seven categories covering athletes, coaches, administrators and volunteers [4]. Their results are reported by governing bodies as news about their own sports: the Football Association covered the February 2026 ceremony because England players and the England head coach were among the winners [6].
News UK publishes both titles and is also the reported owner of talkSPORT [2]. That is a structural feature of the United Kingdom market rather than a claim about either outlet.
What cannot be shown is reach. Neither title publishes an audited circulation figure, the last public ones date from March 2020, and no digital or sport-specific measurement for the titles could be retrieved [2][3][5]. The case for the title’s standing in sport therefore rests on the awards and on its continuous publication since the eighteenth century, not on an audience number.
References
- HistoryofInformation.com — John Walter, The Daily Universal Register and the renaming to The Times on 1 January 1788. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- ABC — The Sunday Times certificate record: publisher News UK, Private Certificate, latest period certified August 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Press Gazette — National newspaper ABC circulation figures, updated 14 September 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Sky Sports — The Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards in association with Vitality, 9 September 2017. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Press Gazette — Most popular websites for sports news in the UK, Ipsos iris, and which sport desks are not separately tracked. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- The Football Association — Lionesses take home prizes at the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Awards, 5 February 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.
- Press Gazette — UK online audience ranking, Ipsos iris data for April 2026. Accessed 2026-09-19.