ABC Analysis – Scotland : April 2012

Overview by Fiona Booth – Research Manager

The Scottish Sun continues to lord it over the Sunday Mail in Scotland, according to latest ABC figures. With a circulation figure in Scotland of 314,676, the Scottish Sun maintained its hold on the top spot for another month and increased the gap between it and the Sunday Mail a little more as its sales held fairly steady while the Sunday Mail’s Scottish circulation fell another 3,108 this month to 293,767. The Daily Record rounds out the top three, posting circulation of 257,307 in Scotland for April.

It’s falling circulations all round though for the homegrown and tartan-topped titles. The Scottish Sun fared best with a loss of only 50 copies over the month while sister title The Sun (Sunday) shed the most copies at 9,305 as it still tries to find its feet after that blazing entry into the marketplace two months ago.

The Sunday Herald took the biggest percentage hit on March, down 5% to only 27,896 and further cementing its position as the lowest circulating homegrown daily or Sunday. Sister title The Herald was down 1% on march, which seems perfectly acceptable in comparison but leaves it a little too close to the 45k mark. Longer term, The Herald is down 9% on the same time last year while the Sunday Herald fares slightly better at only 5% down

Scotland on Sunday held up better in April than its daily sister The Scotsman, with the titles down 0.5% and 3% respectively on last month. Compared to last year, however, it’s a gloomier trend with both titles down just under 10% on April 2011.

The Sunday Post, however, saw the biggest percentage drop over the year, down an unlucky 13% on last April as it lost 27,891 copies over the year. The Daily Record actually lost the most copies year on year at 29,337 but this represents a fall of “only” 10%.

Otherwise, the nationals’ Scottish performance was a little better this month than last, with most seeing some circulation gains north of the border, even if only small. The Daily Mail, Sunday Times and Sunday Express fared best of the lot as the only titles to put on over 1,500 extra copies each in Scotland compared to March.

Looking over the year, the Daily Star - Sunday continues to out-twinkle everyone else with circulation up 69% on the same time last year, holding on to its News of the World gains while its rivals appear to have all but lost theirs.

All figures sourced from ABC