Sunday Herald price drop still reaping sales rewards

A DROP in price to £1 – done last summer – by the Sunday Herald newspaper is continuing to reap dividends as far as sales are concerned, with the paper’s year-on-year circulation registering a near ten per cent rise.

Says the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the paper enjoyed an increase in sales in Scotland of 3559 between May last year and last month – equivalent to 9.23 per cent.

But one recent riser over the last fews months – the Scottish News of the World – this time around experienced a dip. In May last year, its average sale was 302,464; last month, it was 264,592: equivalent to a 12.5 per cent fall in sales.

Only the Daily Star of Scotland – Sunday joined the Sunday Herald as a year-on-year riser. Its leap over the 12 months was 1423, some 5.5 per cent.

The year-on-year figures for the Scottish Daily Mirror and Scottish Sunday Mirror – which, according to an announcement last week by publishers, Trinity Mirror, are to be no longer editionised for Scotland – were down 6.35 and 6.2 per cent, respectively.

The figures read, across the board, as follows:

Scottish Daily Mirror (25,789 in May 2010 versus 27,539 in May 2009, down 1,750 or 6.35 per cent), Daily Record (300,800 versus 319,380, down 18,580 or 5.82 per cent), Daily Star of Scotland (85,287 versus 88,314, down 3,027 or 3.43 per cent), Scottish Sun (339,983 versus 364,588, down 24,065 or 6.75 per cent), and Scottish Daily Express (65,653 versus 71,203 down 5,550 or 7.8 per cent).

Scottish Daily Mail (112,473 versus 118,406, down 5,933 or five per cent), Daily Telegraph (22,975 versus 26,226, down 3,251 or 12.4 per cent), Financial Times (4,117 versus 4,646, down 529 or 11.4 per cent), The Herald (54,741 versus 58,349, down 3,608 or 6.2 per cent), The Guardian (14,453 versus 15,814, down 361 or 2.28 per cent), and The Independent (8,352 versus 9,042, down 690 or 7.63 per cent).

The Scotsman (44,290 versus 47,072, down 2,782 or 5.9 per cent), The Times (24,459 versus 27,559, down 3,100 or 11.2 per cent), Daily Star of Scotland – Sunday (27,165 versus 25,742, up 1,423 or 5.5 per cent), Scottish News of the World (264,592 versus 302,464, down 37,872 or 12.5 per cent), and Sunday Mail (358,108 versus 388,252, down 30,144 or 7.76 per cent).

Scottish Sunday Mirror (23,292 versus 24,832, down 1,540 or 6.2 per cent), The People (13,002 versus 18,050, down 5048 or 27.9 per cent), Scottish Sunday Express (36,152 versus 40,923, down 4,771 or 11.6 per cent), Sunday Post (227,963 versus 241,751, down 13,780 or 5.7 per cent), and Scottish Mail on Sunday (96,442 versus 101,765, down 5,323 or 5.2 per cent).

Independent on Sunday (6,846 versus 7078, down 232 or 3.3 per cent), The Observer (19,841 versus 20,980, down 1,139 or 5.4 per cent), Scotland on Sunday (54,310 versus 58,989, down 4,279 or 7.2 per cent) and Sunday Herald (42,098 versus 38,539, up 3,559 or 9.23 per cent).

Sunday Telegraph (18,742 versus 22,421, down 3,679 or 16.4 per cent) and Sunday Times Scotland (64,806 versus 69,117, down 4,311 or 6.23 per cent).

The figures were published on Friday.