The findings come from the group's Industry Monitor for the first quarter of 2008, which reveal a fall in quantities across the board.

Volumes decreased 35% in daily newspapers, while Sunday newspapers and general magazines which decreased 28% and 31% respectively.
 
The council claim the figures were in line with its stance of reducing insert saturation and aiming to make them a more targeted medium.

Overall the Industry Monitor showed an annual decrease of 13% over the same period the previous year.

The figures did though reveal that inserts in Saturday and Sunday Supplements, which saw increases of 9% and 1% respectively.

Gurdev Singh, managing director at Howitt, said: "Budgets are being hit and people are being more selective with their advertising."

"At the same time, there is more data available to allow for a more targeted approach to campaigns while people are also becoming increasingly aware of multi-channelled means of advertising."

Jo Garcia, Chair of the Inserts Marketing Council added: "The insert market has seen increasing integration with other media channels, especially online while continuing complementary activity with traditional media."