Scottish Newspaper Market

The Scottish newspaper market is currently undergoing major changes with the sale of Thomson titles and the introduction of Scottish orientated nationals.

Trade estimate figures for August show that of the main fifteen newspaper titles available in Scotland five increased their circulations year on year; the Daily Mail, the Times, the Daily Star, the Guardian and the Aberdeen Press & Journal.

The Daily Mail recorded the largest circulation rise with a total of 80,248 -a spectacular jump of over 100% from last year’s Scottish circulation. This rise is attributable to the launch of the Scottish Daily Mail in January, at a promotional price of 10p which has now risen to 20p.

Today newspaper fared worse than its counterparts with a significant fall in circulation of 12,943 – to 21,251, a 37.85% fall from August 1994’s figure, 34,194. Although the Today is published as a Scottish newspaper it has less Scottish emphasis than other titles. With the exception of The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, and the Independent all newspapers have separate Scottish editions.

Commenting on the current state of the market, Henry Robson from Barkers said that there was a general mood of uncertainty. The Scottish Daily Mail and Express had made improvements but the launch of the Mail at the very low promotional price of 10p leads to question whether the readers will be loyal without the cut price. Mr Robson added that because of the Mail’s promotional price, an accurate profile of readership was difficult to obtain.

Commenting on the future of the Scottish newspaper market he said that it was encouraging if the current trend continues. The future will show a clearer composition of readership.