ALMOST half of daily and Sunday newspapers sold in Scotland have suffered a sales drop of at least ten per cent since this time last year.
According to the ABCs, the year-on-year sales – as measured by Average Net Circulation – between September last year and last month of newspapers such as Scotland on Sunday and The Times were down by at least a tenth.
The newspapers involved are the Independent (down 17.9 per cent), The People (17.9 per cent), Independent on Sunday (17.4 per cent), the Financial Times (16.9 per cent), the Scottish Daily Mirror (13.3 per cent), the Scottish Sunday Mirror (13.2 per cent), The Times (12.1 per cent), The Observer (11.6 per cent), Scotland on Sunday (11.3 per cent), Sunday Mail (11.1 per cent), the Mail on Sunday (10.9 per cent), and Daily Record (10.1 per cent).
There was relatively good news, though, for the Sunday Herald. After suffering double-digit year-on-year sales drops recently – including 18.3 per cent between May last year and May this year – its figure is now a relatively stable 2.2 per cent.
There were sales hikes for the Scottish Daily Star and the Scottish News of the World.
The figures were published on Friday.
They read, across the board, as follows:
Scottish Daily Mirror (27,070 in September 2009 versus 31,241 in September 2008, down 4171 or 13.3 per cent), Daily Record (311,508 versus 346,687, down 35,179 or 10.1 per cent), Scottish Daily Star (88,134 versus 85,138, up ,2996 or 3.5 per cent), Scottish Sun (361,244 versus 376,384, down 15,140 or four per cent), and Scottish Daily Express (69,802 versus 73,352, down 3,550 or 4.8 per cent).
Scottish Daily Mail (115,940 versus 120,808, down 4,868 or four per cent), Daily Telegraph (23,730 versus 24,702, down 972 or 3.9 per cent), Financial Times (4,458 versus 5,363, down 905 or 16.9 per cent), The Herald (56,799 versus 62,693, down 5,894 or 9.4 per cent), The Guardian (15,452 versus 16,517, down 1,065 or 6.4 per cent), and The Independent (7,556 versus 9,213, down 1,657 or 17.9 per cent).
The Scotsman (46,510 versus 49,970, down 3460 or 6.9 per cent), The Times (26,350 versus 29,983, down 3,633 or 12.1 per cent), Scottish Daily Star Sunday (28,510 versus 29,798, down 1,288 or 4.3 per cent), Scottish News of the World (305,758 versus 274,156, up 31,602 or 11.5 per cent), and Sunday Mail (380,581 versus 428,513, down 47,932 or 11.1 per cent).
Scottish Sunday Mirror (23,447 versus 27,029, down 3,582 or 13.2 per cent), The People (15,500 versus 18,892, down 3,582 or 13.2 per cent), Scottish Sunday Express (39,369 versus 40,995, down 1,626 or 3.9 per cent), Sunday Post (237,355 versus 256,823, down 19,468 or 7.6 per cent), and Scottish Mail on Sunday (96,781 versus 108,632, down 11,871 or 10.9 per cent).
Independent on Sunday (6282 versus 7,604, down 1,322 or 17.4 per cent), The Observer (21,034 versus 23,787, down 2,753 or 11.6 per cent), Scotland on Sunday (56,514 versus 63,706, down 7,192 or 11.3 per cent) and Sunday Herald (42,665 versus 43,622, down 957 or 2.2 per cent).
Sunday Telegraph (20,011 versus 20,776, down 765 or 3.7 per cent) and Sunday Times Scotland (68,610 versus 69,942, down 1,332 or 1.9 per cent).
