Decline continues for Scottish newspapers as sales down 11% on last March
ABC overview by Fiona Booth – Research Manager
Average sales of daily and Sunday newspapers in Scotland* during March were down 0.7% on last month according to the latest figures from the ABC. Longer term the Scottish market’s decline is steeper with total sales of dailies and Sundays north of the Border down 11.0% compared to last March.
The biggest selling newspaper in Scotland is still The Sun, with an average net circulation in March 272,854. Nipping at its heels is the Sunday Mail who saw average sales this month of 269,301, leaving only 3.5k copies between the two titles. The Daily Record rounds out the top three with an average net circulation in March of 235,384. The top three are also the only titles in the market still selling in excess of 200k copies a day as average net circulation for The Sun Sunday dropped to 199,172 in March.
All of the national qualities posted sales growth in Scotland this month compared to February, as did both of the Express titles. Longer term, only the i and The Times are up year on year.
Amongst the reportable homegrown and tartan-topped titles, the Daily Record took the biggest hit month on month both in terms of physical sales and proportional, down -3790 and -1.6% respectively. Longer term, The Sun shed the most physical copies year on year (- 41,872) while sister title The Sun Sunday had the steepest proportional drop since last March (-16.3%).
All figures sourced from ABC
* Please note The Herald/ Sunday Herald and Scotsman/Scotland on Sunday are now only releasing six monthly figures and are therefore not included in this analysis.