Scottish Daily Mail notches up a 2.1% year-on-year sales increase in December
The Scottish Daily Mail will take most heart from the latest set of figures from the Audit Bureau Circulations (ABC) for December.
Against a now depressingly familiar backdrop of decreasing sales in Scotland for almost all daily newspaper north of the border, the Scottish Mail was the only paper to record a year-on-year boost in sales in December – up 2.1%, from 105,103 to 107,390.
The Scottish Daily Mail pointed out in an editorial panel in Saturday’s paper: “We recorded a two per cent rise - or 2200 new readers every day through the month.
“In the same period, the [Daily ] Express lost 4.7 per cent of its readers, The Scotsman 6.1 per cent and The Herald 9.9 per cent.
“We now outsell The Herald and The Scotsman combined by 23,000 a day while the gap between us and the ailing Express has increased to an unprecedented 45,000 a day.”
Although the figures for the daily newspapers are sobering in the extreme, there was one glimmer of light in that year-on-year sales declines for the December 2010-last month period were not quite as severe as they had been for November 2010-November 2011.
However, save for the Independent , which saw a 16.5% drop, there must be increasing concern at The Herald which showed a 9.9% drop – from 51,286 to 46,215.
There was the same percentage decrease at the Daily Star of Scotland which dropped from 66,803 to 60,145.
In the Sunday market, it can be presumed that the divi-out following the demise of the News of the World in July has now settled down into a permanent pattern with the main winners apparently being the Daily Star of Scotland-Sunday, the Sunday Mirror and The People.
However, the Scottish Sunday Express, the Sunday Express, the Sunday Post, and the Independent on Sunday all recorded year-on-year circulation increases.
The most striking decrease was for the Sunday Herald – down 27.6% from 39,687 to 28,708.
The ABC figures compare sales in Scotland in December 2010 and last month. These figures show:
DAILIES
Daily Mirror: 5.2% drop - from 22,837 on average in December 2010, to 21,641.
Daily Record: 5.3% drop - from 277,899 to 263,251.
Daily Star of Scotland: 9.9% drop - 66,803 to 60,145.
The Scottish Sun: 3.8% drop - 314,897 to 302,823.
Scottish Daily Express: 4.7% drop - 65,768 to 62,638.
Scottish Daily Mail: 2.1% UP - 105,193 to 107,390.
Daily Telegraph: 1.3% drop - 18,882 to 18,638.
Financial Times: 4.7% drop - 3,641 to 3,470.
The Herald: 9.9% drop - 51,286 to 46,215.
The Guardian: 1.9% drop - 12,921 to 12,677.
Independent: 16.5% drop - 7,765 to 6,485.The Scotsman: 6.1% drop - 40,658 to 38,159.
The Times: - 6% drop - 20,321 to 19,103.
SUNDAYS
Daily Star of Scotland - Sunday: 122.6% UP - 25,625 to 57,037.
Sunday Mail: 4.1% UP - 338,508 to 352,285.
Sunday Mirror: 70% UP - 22,640 to 38,561.
The People: 87.2% UP - 12,264 to 22,957.
Scottish Sunday Express: 18.6% UP - 35,154 to 41,708.
The Sunday Post: 0.6% UP - 215,387 to 216,717.
Scottish Mail on Sunday: 0.02% down - 98,312 to 98,288.
Independent on Sunday: 10.2% UP - 6,123 to 6,750.
The Observer: 1.2% down - 16,952 to 16,744.
Scotland on Sunday: 5.7% down - 45,996 to 43,369.
Sunday Herald: 27.6% down - 39,687 to 28,708.
Sunday Telegraph: 3.2% down - 16,864 to 16,328.
Sunday Times: 9.5% down - 56,884 to 51,455.
The average sales figures for The Courier, Paisley Daily Express, the Press and Journal and Scotland's five evening newspapers, for the six-month period from July to December, will be published on February 29.