Local and regional newspapers continue to take a hammering with sales down on average by 18% in the first half of 2025.
The Scotsman now sells just 6,242 copies a day, down 12% year-on-year, and only three regional daily newspapers in the UK, none of which are based in England, now sell more than 10,000 copies.
The figures relate only to those titles registered with the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), but they include some big city papers and show a faster rate of overall decline than in the same period a year ago.
Many of these titles reach millions of readers per month online. But print sales still account for the majority of income for groups such as Newsquest (owner of The Herald) and Reach (owner of the Daily Record and numerous local titles).
Among local titles, only the Belfast-based Irish News sold more than 20,000 copies per day. Selling 20,857, it toppled the DC Thomson-owned Aberdeen P&J (19,535) last year as the top-selling regional daily.
The P&J lost 10% of sales on the previous year. Its sister title, The Courier in Dundee, was in third spot with a sale of 14,836, down 11%.
Irish News editor Chris Sherrard told trade title Press Gazette: “Our ABC figure represents a hell of a lot of people who tell us they are prepared to put their hand in their pocket for our journalism every day.
“We know the industry is facing seemingly endless headwinds so we must navigate those whilst maintaining the standards that we have set and which our readers have come to expect from us.”
Twenty-two of the 36 newspapers included in ABC’s regional daily report for the first half of the year had a circulation below 5,000. Among them are the Birmingham Mail, selling 3,389, Nottingham Post, 2,553, and the Coventry Evening Telegraph just 1,986.
The Paisley Daily Express recorded both the lowest print circulation and the biggest year-on-year decline, falling by 40% to just 743 sales.
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