A quartet of newspapers have each enjoyed an increase in their sales in Scotland over the twelve months between August last year and last month.
Says the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the Scottish Daily Express, the Scottish Daily Mail, the Independent and the Scottish Mail on Sunday each enjoyed year-on-year sales increases in Scotland of 1.5 per cent, 2.2 per cent, 4.9 per cent and 2.8 per cent.
The figures read, across the board, as follows:
Scottish Daily Mirror (26,213 in August 2010 versus 28,028 in August 2009, down 1815 or 6.5 per cent), Daily Record (300,483 versus 314,279, down 13,796 or 4.4 per cent), Daily Star of Scotland (86,708 versus 92,501, down 5793 or 6.3 per cent), Scottish Sun (344,006 versus 368,097, down 24,091 or 6.5 per cent), and Scottish Daily Express (73,255 versus 72,179 up 1076 or 1.5 per cent).
Scottish Daily Mail (120,698 versus 118,110 up 2588 or 2.2 per cent), Daily Telegraph (23,041 versus 25,479, down 2456 or 9.6 per cent), Financial Times (3966 versus 4332, down 366 or 8.4 per cent), The Herald (54,910 versus 57,932, down 3022 or 5.2 per cent), The Guardian (15,073 versus 16,593, down 1520 or 9.2 per cent), and The Independent (8417 versus 8024, up 393 or 4.9 per cent).
The Scotsman (45,100 versus 49,676, down 4576 or 9.2 per cent), The Times (23,994 versus 29,100, down 5106 or 17.5 per cent), Daily Star of Scotland – Sunday (29,379 versus 29,918, down 539 or 1.8 per cent), Scottish News of the World (265,552 versus 315,535, down 49,982 or 15.8 per cent), and Sunday Mail (369,475 versus 389,475, down 25,764 or 6.6 per cent).
Scottish Sunday Mirror (22,812 versus 24,418, down 1606 or 6.6 per cent), The People (14,528 versus 17,007, down 2479 or 14.6 per cent), Scottish Sunday Express (37,061 versus 41,457, down 4396 or 10.6 per cent), Sunday Post (229,032 versus 241,075, down 12,043 or five per cent), and Scottish Mail on Sunday (100,915 versus 98,115, up 2800 or 2.85 per cent).
Independent on Sunday (6743 versus 6879, down 136 or two per cent), The Observer (19,048 versus 21,614, down 2566 or 11.9 per cent), Scotland on Sunday (57,119 versus 62,140, down 5021 or 8.1 per cent) and Sunday Herald (43,788 versus 43,877, down 89 or 0.2 per cent).
Sunday Telegraph (19,236 versus 21,220, down 1984 or 9.3 per cent) and Sunday Times Scotland (63,850 versus 70,349, down 6499 or 9.2 per cent).
The figures were published on Friday.
The latest circulation figures were greeted with understandable glee in the Scottish Daily Mail camp.
In a promotional panel on Saturday, the mid-market quality tabloid explained: “In a declining market, the Mail again bucked the trend by recording a circulation rise over the last year – an important yardstick for advertisers.
“Official figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations show that our sales increased by more than two per cent in the last 12 months.
“Our rivals have been leaking sales. Circulation of the Daily Record, the Scottish Sun, The Herald, The Scotsman and The Daily Telegraph have all fallen over the same period.
“For the last two years, the Scottish Daily Mail has sold more copies – currently a record 20,000 a day – than The Herald and The Scotsman combined. During August our circulation rose by a remarkable three per cent over the previous month – that’s 3500 new readers every day.”
The Scottish Mail on Sunday was equally cock-a-hoop. Its editorial read: “While our rival newspaperds leaked sales, the Mail on Sunday enjoyed a sales rise of nearly three per cent. Last month your favourite newspaper sold more copies than the Sunday Express and the Sunday Times combined. During August our circulation rose by a remarkable 2.3 per cent over the previous month – that's 2300 new readers.”
