Readership falls in excess of a quarter have been suffered by Scots newspapers, Scotland on Sunday and the Sunday Herald – according to figures released this morning.
Says the National Readership Survey, the average readership between April last year and March this year fell by 30 per cent for Scotland on Sunday and by 27 per cent for the Sunday Herald – compared to the previous 12 months.
Translated, for Scotland on Sunday that's an average 140,000 readers between April 2011 and March this year, compared to an average 199,000 between April 2010 and March 2011. For the Sunday Herald, it's 125,000 versus 171,000.
These are UK-wide readership figures. allmediascotland.com is seeking to source Scotland-only ones.
It was brighter news, however, for some other Scots titles.
The Press and Journal saw its average rise from 169,000 between April 2010 and March 2011 to 185,000 between April last year and March this year – a year-on-year rise of ten per cent.
The Herald too saw a rise, by six per cent: from 152,000 to 162,000. The previous set of NRS figures registered a seven per cent rise for The Herald, between January-December last year, compared to the previous 12 months.
The Daily Record was relatively stable, down from 884,000 to 880,000, with the Evening Times at no change: 147,000 during both time periods.
The Scotsman, meanwhile, was down four per cent (144,000 to 139,000) and The Courier was down 16 per cent (169,000 to 143,000).
The Sunday Post was down one per cent (833,000 to 822,000) and the Sunday Mail was down two per cent (1,063,000 to 1,039,000).
The survey involves people being interviewed in their homes, about their newspaper and magazine reading habits. Readership figures are larger than sales ones because a single copy of newspaper is often read by more than one person.
