With the Scottish News of the World no more, the tabloid, middle-market and quality press were all out in force yesterday in an attempt to capture new readers.
The former News International paper – the biggest-selling across the UK – published its final edition last Sunday.
And with sales of almost a quarter of a million north of the Border prior to its demise, rival titles were desperate to clinch a much-needed circulation boost.
Scotland's biggest-selling Sunday, the Sunday Mail, was on offer for almost half-price with a voucher featured inside some edition's of Saturday sister title, the Daily Record.
The paper, which printed a quarter of a million extra copies this weekend, hit shelves throughout the country with a cut-price of 75p upon collection of the coupon made available to Record readers except those in the West of Scotland.
Inside, the Trinity Mirror newspaper opted to run a full-page advert on page two, showcasing columnists, magazines and features it had to offer. “We're the newspaper you can trust and that's why more than a million Scots read the Mail every week,” it read.
Soundbites from the tabloid's readers on why they pick up the paper were dotted throughout the news section also.
Meanwhile, a million extra copies, UK-wide, of the Sunday Mirror and 500,000 of The People carryed a £5 off voucher for supermarket store, Morrisons, and a free 16-page crime pullout, respectively.
The People also took the opportunity to welcome new readers inside with a page 17 splash insisting: “The only people we care about at The People are our readers. Your causes are our causes. Our interest is your best interests.”
Elsewhere, the Sunday Herald, favoured a reduced price promotion too, as reported previously on allmediascotland.
The Newsquest-owned newspaper dropped to 50p with a coupon included in Saturday's copy of The Herald under big bold letters: “Not all Sunday newspapers are the same.”
A week on from branding itself as the paper representing the 'values good people hold dear', the Sunday Post cut its price in half to just 55p with a free Dandy comic also on offer.
Also keen to snap up a few more readers were the Scottish Mail on Sunday and Scottish Sunday Express, which both lowered their cover price to £1 from £1.50 and £1.35 respectively.
The Mail on Sunday threw in a free £5 Tesco voucher also, while the Express offered three free giveaways – vegetable grow bags, porridge pots and Thomas and Friends Mega Bloks toys.
The Daily Star on Sunday, which more than doubled its print run following the News of the World's demise, offered a new OK! Extra magazine, while Scotland on Sunday produced a 12-page pullout including all SPL fixtures ahead of the start of the new football season this weekend.
The Sunday Times Scotland gave readers the opportunity to pick up oscar-winning documentary, Man on Wire – for free from iTunes – while The Sunday Telegraph came with a free iBook download, worth £6.99.
And, finally, The Independent on Sunday left space at the top of its front-page to promise readers: “No phone-hacking. No law-breaking. Just good, honest journalism.”
