THE circulation gap between the two biggest-selling dailly newspapers in Scotland has dipped below 40,000 for the first time in at least six months.
Say the December ABCs, the gap – as measured by Average Net Circulation – between sales in Scotland of the Sun and the Daily Record was 36,998. In November, it was 48,526; in October, it was 41,422; and in September, it was 45,336. In August, it was 43,528; in July, it was 42,622; and in June, it was 41,360.
In December, The Scottish Sun’s average daily sale in Scotland was 314,897 (compared with 338,246 in November), as opposed to the Record’s 277,899 (compared to 289,720 in November).
One possible reason for the narrowing of the sales gap was the winter weather affecting the East of Scotland – where the Sun has a disproportionately stronger base than the Record – more than it did the west. allmediascotland understands The Scottish Sun outsells the Daily Record in Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh by 3:1, 2:1 and 1.5, respectively, and that its sales in the west of the country are about 95 per cent those of the Record.
Meanwhile, the average sale in Scotland for the country’s biggest-selling newspaper, the Sunday Mail, was 338,508. In November, it was 350,883; in October, it was 354,396; and in September it was 356,313.
In the sales pecking order, The Herald swapped places with Scotland on Sunday. Only the Scottish Sunday Express and the Scottish Sunday Mirror saw their month-on-month sales figures in Scotland rise.
Average Net Circulation figures include free give-aways. The figures were released at midday.
The other circulation figures read:
Scottish News of the World 245,268 (compared to 258,288 for November), Sunday Post 215,387 (compared to 226,274), Scottish Daily Mail 105,193 (112,404), Scottish Mail on Sunday 98,312 (100,016), Daily Star of Scotland 66,803 (75,595), Scottish Daily Express 65,768 (69,917), Sunday Times Scotland 56,884 (59,239), The Herald 51,286 (52,545), Scotland on Sunday 45,996 (52,912), The Scotsman 40,650 (41,752), Sunday Herald 39,687 (41,314), Scottish Sunday Express 35,154 (35,035), Daily Star of Scotland – Sunday 25,625 (26,220), Scottish Daily Mirror 22,837 (24,343), Scottish Sunday Mirror 22,640 (21,995), The Times 20,321 (21,586), Daily Telegraph 18,882 (20,609), The Observer 16,952 (17,991), Sunday Telegraph 16,864 (17,715), The Guardian 12,921 (13,607), People 12,264 (13,328), The Independent 7765 (7909), Independent on Sunday 6123 (6278), and Financial Times 3641 (4164).
To follow, year-on-year changes….
