Sunday Mail seeking sales figure clarity

THE journalists’ weekly title, Press Gazette, is being asked by the Sunday Mail newspaper about the reporting of its sales figures.

Friday’s issue of Press Gazette had sales of the Sunday newspaper down 8.73 per cent on this time last year.

While the Press Gazette claims that the Sunday Mail’s gross circulation figure of 533,776 comprised just over 16,000 giveways (bulks), the paper itself says the true bulks number is closer to 600, which means its percentage decrease should not be as high as reported.

The Sunday Mail’s estimated year-on-year drop in sales is, instead, 5.9 per cent – better than four papers the Press Gazette claims performed better than it: the Daily Record, the Daily Star, the Sunday Mirror and Daily Mirror.