23/02/2007

As if the indigenous Scottish newspaper titles needed any more grief, the Scottish Daily Mail launched a price cut this week and started selling for just 20p.

Early results are showing at least a 20,000 uplift for the title and that has taken their total daily sale to above The Scotsman and The Herald combined.

Bad news for Scotsman publishers, Johnston Press, and The Herald’s owner, Newsquest, in their attempts at further stemming the sales losses they have already incurred, year on year.

We are also hearing that Mail publishers, Associated, are planning to launch a 50p Daily Mail down south, starting tomorrow.

Some might believe that the strategy is also ‘one in the eye’ for News International’s plans for a Scottish edition of The Times, which seem to be stalling further and further each week.

With the announcement of budget freezes at NI in London there are some wondering if The Times’ Scottish edition will ever properly get off the ground now. And who knows how many promiscuous Times readers will now switch to the Mail north of the border?

But the real losers are more likely to be Trinity Mirror who are now the proud owners of the only two tabloid titles – the Daily Record and Scottish Daily Mirror – selling at full price on the news-stands.