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Newspaper Circulation Falls Nearly 9%
Jump, you bastards!The reality facing many American newspaper publishers continues to look stark, as figures released Monday show deep circulation declines, with average weekday sales down almost 9 percent since the same time last year. In the six-month period ending March 31, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported Sunday sales dropping 6.5 percent and weekday sales 8.7 percent compared with the same six-month period a year ago. The figures are based on reports filed by hundreds of individual papers. The decline was widespread, as nearly all of the major newspapers and many of the smaller ones lost circulation. Among the 25 largest papers, The San Francisco Chronicle suffered the most, losing 22.7 percent of its weekday sales. Among the 25 largest circulation newspapers, 10 had declines in weekday circulation of more than 10 percent. The Sunday circulation figures were slightly higher, though far from a bright spot, as five of the 25 largest papers reported double-digit declines. In the last year, circulation at The New York Times dropped 5.1 percent on Sunday, to 1.4 million copies, and 8.5 percent on weekdays, to 950,000. The Los Angeles Times declined 7.6 percent on Sunday and 14.7 percent during the week. The Chicago Tribune fell 7.5 percent on Sunday and 9.8 percent during the week. But there are some signs that circulation may have started to level off. At The New York Times, average weekday circulation in the six months ended March 31 was up slightly compared with the six-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2009. At The Arizona Republic, circulation in those two periods was up to 350,000, from 316,000. Compared with a year ago, The Wall Street Journal was up 0.5 percent, the only newspaper among the 25 largest to experience a weekday increase. The Journal's numbers were helped by the 414,000 paid subscribers to its electronic editions, including its Web site and other systems like the Kindle, which are included in the figures. Most newspapers do not charge for their Web sites and their online readership is not included in the circulation bureau's calculation, although their paid subscriptions to other electronic editions, as on the Kindle, are included. The Journal's slight gain helped the paper widen its lead over USA Today for the largest circulation over all, 2.1 million to 1.8 million. USA Today, which had a 13.6 percent weekday decline, has struggled in part because of the downturn in the hotel industry, since at hotels it is frequently distributed free to guests. It had held the top spot for many years before losing it to The Journal last fall. Posted by: Steve White 2010-04-27 |
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