Some numbers that terrify anyone with any skin in the newspaper game, particularly in Scotland:
Sales of the Sunday Herald are down 15% this year. More worrying still, if not altogether surprising given the state of the global economy, the Johnston Press, owners of the Scotsman and hundreds of local papers, report that advertising sales are down 15% this year. Expect that number to get worse. Two years ago the companies share price was £4.20; yesterday it closed at 19p.
These numbers happen to come from the Scottish and UK (local) market. But they won’t be that different from the numbers elsewhere. So there will be more cuts which, in turn, will make it harder for newspapers to stop the slow bleed of circulation which in turn makes it harder to raise revenue from advertising which thus necessitates further cuts on expenditure.
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