The papers’ coverage of the momentous campaign led to a notable leap in print circulation, says Johnston Press. As people voted on the Thursday, The Scotsman’s sales rose 13% and the Edinburgh Evening News’ increased 5% on the previous week. The Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening News’ print circulation shot up on the Friday as the results were announced by 21%, week on week. The Scotsman’s post-result analysis on the Saturday culminated in a peak in print circulation, boosting sales an impressive 25% week on week.
Meanwhile online, on the day of voting itself, The Scotsman achieved a staggering 1 million page views for the first time ever; 50% higher than the previous record. Additionally, in total, unique browsers for both of the titles have already topped 3 million for the first half of September, which equates to approximately 56% of the Scottish population.
Other hikes in traffic include The Scotsman’s referendum microsite, which aggregated the best independence content from around the web, drawing nearly 60,000 unique browsers on the day of voting, four times higher than any other day since it went live. Similarly, the paper’s live blog on the referendum, which ran from the day the polls opened and was continually updated with the latest results and developments, reached 85,000 people.
The digital platforms were supported with social media activity, notably, The Scotsman’s weekly Google Hangout discussions, the most popular of which received 10,000 views, as well as the Edinburgh Evening News’ digital front page that was shared over its social channels and reached approximately 381,300 people on Facebook alone.
Lucy Sinclair, Chief Marketing Officer of Johnston Press, says: “We are immensely proud of these latest figures and the dramatic expansion of our reach as a result of our dedicated editorial coverage of one of the biggest decisions this country has seen in recent years.
“Our teams ensured our Scottish referendum coverage was provided to our audiences in a plethora of different formats, from live updates, to a deeper post-decision analysis, and the results have been staggering. It’s clear that there is a strong appetite for receiving good quality reporting on local issues on the ground, and we are committed to ensuring we can provide this for all local communities in the UK across our titles.”
