Sunday Herald Standing Alone in Sales Figures Audit

The Sunday Herald is alone among Scotland's daily and Sunday newspapers to enjoy an increase in its Scotland circulation figures, year-on-year.

Says the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the paper – which reduced its price to £1 last summer – enjoyed an increase in sales in Scotland of 3379 between June last year and last month – equivalent to 9.1 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.

Among the biggest year-on-year drops are The People (22.8 per cent) and the Daily Telegraph (15.6 per cent), the latter exaggerated, no doubt, by the paper's revelations, this time last year, of the MPs' expenses scandal.

The figures read, across the board, as follows:

Scottish Daily Mirror (25,549 in June 2010 versus 27,524 in June 2009, down 1975 or 7.17 per cent), Daily Record (294,422 versus 314,957, down 20,535 or 6.5 per cent), Daily Star of Scotland (83,962 versus 90,851, down 6889 or 7.6 per cent), Scottish Sun (335,782 versus 365,450, down 29,668 or 8.1 per cent), and Scottish Daily Express (68,668 versus 71,347 down 2679 or 3.75 per cent).

Scottish Daily Mail (115,318 versus 118,114 down 2796 or 2.37 per cent), Daily Telegraph (22,286 versus 26,402, down 4116 or 15.6 per cent), Financial Times (3994 versus 4441, down 447 or 10 per cent), The Herald (53,033 versus 57,534, down 4501 or 7.8 per cent), The Guardian (14,568 versus 15,862, down 1294 or 8.16 per cent), and The Independent (8248 versus 9101, down 853 or 9.4 per cent).

The Scotsman (43,270 versus 46,483, down 3213 or 6.9 per cent), The Times (23,555 versus 27,647, down 4092 or 14.8 per cent), Daily Star of Scotland – Sunday (27,061 versus 28,178, down 1117 or 3.96 per cent), Scottish News of the World (258,238 versus 305,210, down 46,972 or 15.4 per cent), and Sunday Mail (354,758 versus 377,225, down 22,467 or 5.9 per cent).

Scottish Sunday Mirror (22,612 versus 23,931, down 1319 or 5.5 per cent), The People (12,820 versus 16,606, down 3786 or 22.8 per cent), Scottish Sunday Express (36,342 versus 41,292, down 4950 or 12 per cent), Sunday Post (225,336 versus 239,145, down 13,809 or 5.77 per cent), and Scottish Mail on Sunday (96,187 versus 99,085, down 2898 or 2.9 per cent).

Independent on Sunday (6325 versus 6823, down 498 or 7.3 per cent), The Observer (18,292 versus 20,763, down 2471 or 11.9 per cent), Scotland on Sunday (52,893 versus 59,873, down 6980 or 11.7 per cent) and Sunday Herald (40,549 versus 37,170, up 3337 or 9.1 per cent).

Sunday Telegraph (18,338 versus 21,537, down 3199 or 14.9 per cent) and Sunday Times Scotland (61,740 versus 68,523, down 6783 or 9.9 per cent). 

The figures were published on Friday.