SCOTS newspapers continue to enjoy healthy readership numbers, despite widespread reductions in the number of people buying their print editions, because of their website visitors.
According to the National Readership Survey – which asks people about their newspaper and magazine reading habits for print and then fuses online data from analytics outfit, comScore – across-the-board reductions in the readership of print editions are being offset by increases in visitors to the titles’ online offerings.
Among the other Scots titles featured in the survey, The Scotsman attracts an estimated 113,000 readers, daily, of its print version, with an estimated 172,000 taking in both its print and online versions on a daily basis. Says the NRS, that represents an uplift in readership of 51.5 per cent when online is added to print.
Scotland on Sunday, meanwhile, saw the average issue readership (AIR) of its print edition increase, while The Press and Journal reversed recent increases by registering a print readership drop in AIR.
Elsewhere, the estimated figures for daily consumption for print and digital data (PADD) are as follows:
The Courier: print readership only – 126,000, website readership – 14,000, print and website combined (de-duplicated, so that someone reading both print and the website is not counted twice) – 140,000. Those who read the paper’s website only (and not the print edition) is an estimated 14,000. And in total, 140,000 represents an increase of 11.1 per cent when print is added to online;
Evening Times – print readership only – 132,000, website 18,000, together (de-duplicated) 149,000, web only 17,000, increase when print is added to online: 13 per cent;
The Herald – print readership only 127,000, website 41,000, together (de-duplicated) 168,000, web only 40,000, increase when print is added to online: 31.7 per cent;
The Herald/Sunday Herald (which share the same website) – print 133,000, website 41,000, together (de-duplicated) 174,000, web only 40,000, increase when print is added to online: 30.3 per cent;
The Scotsman – print 113,000 (down 16 per cent year-on-year), website 60,000, together (de-duplicated) 172,000, web only 58,000, increase when print is added to online: 51.5 per cent;
The Scotsman/Scotland on Sunday (which share the same website) – print 128,000, website 60,000, together (de-duplicated) 187,000, web only 58,000, increase when print is added to online: 45.4 per cent;
Daily Record – print 764,000 (down ten per cent year-on-year), website 61,000, together (de-duplicated) 819,000, web only 55,000, increase when print is added to online: 7.2 per cent; and
Daily Record/Sunday Mail (which share the same website) – print 819,000, website 61,000, together (de-duplicated) 874,000, web only 55,000, increase when print is added to online: 6.7 per cent.
Re print-only data…
The Press and Journal – Average Issue Readership (AIR) print edition: 183,000 (down eight per cent year-on-year);
Scotland on Sunday – AIR for print edition: 154,000 (up five per cent year-on-year);
Sunday Herald – AIR for print edition: 94,000 (down 25 per cent year-on-year);
Sunday Mail – AIR for print edition: 850,000 (down 16 per cent year-on-year); and
The Sunday Post – AIR for print edition: 658,000 (down 18 per cent year-on-year).
