ABC Analysis – Scotland : June 2012
Overview by Fiona Booth – Research Manager
Total sales for the daily and Sunday newspapers in Scotland in June were down by 1.53% on the previous month, according to new figures released by ABC today, with all but three titles losing circulation compared to May. The top three titles remain as they were with The Scottish Sun still holding on to the top spot, posting average sales in Scotland in June of 306,930. In second place was the Sunday Mail with an average circulation of 285,519 in June, just ahead of sister title the Daily Record with 253,047.
The Sun on Sunday continues to hover outside the top three, however, its monthly losses are steeper both by volume as well as by percentage. It’s still selling in excess of 200k, but will need to address the rate of its circulation losses if it wants to be able to still claim that in six months time.
Longer term, the Scottish market is seeing a comparable decline to the national market, with total sales of the dailies and Sundays down 8.17% compared to last June.
All of the homegrown and tartan-topped titles lost circulation this month compared to last. The Sunday Post did least badly, down only 0.45%, whereas Scotland on Sunday yoyo-ed back down again after seeing increases in May to claim the steepest percentage decline month on month, down 9.06% in June. Scotland on Sunday also showed the steepest annual decline amongst the homegrown and tartan-topped newspapers, down 13.99% on last June. At this rate, it might just slip under the 40k mark sooner rather than later. Overall, the homegrowns and tartan-topped titles saw total dip of 1.87% compared to last month, narrowly avoiding double digit decline over the longer term at -9.95% on last June (substituting the News of the World’s figures from June 2011 to compare to the Sun on Sunday’s figures for June 2012).
The Nationals in Scotland gave us the only three titles to add sales on May in the Scottish market; The Sunday Mirror (+1.84%), The Times (+1.23%) and The Sunday Telegraph (+0.81%). Overall, total circulation for the Nationals in Scotland was down 0.72% on May and “only” 3.82% when compared to the same time last year.
All figures sourced from ABC