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| Economy |
| Newspaper Circulation Falls Nearly 9% |
| 2010-04-27 |
| 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 |
| #15 Newspaper circulation declines are levelling off in the same sense the numbers of coopers and wheelwrights has levelled off, namely as demand approaches zero. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-04-27 22:55 |
| #14 Bailout! (with Obama regime editorial control, but then, who could tell?) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-04-27 19:03 |
| #13 So the MSM press has dug themselves into irrelevancy with their agenda. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-04-27 16:15 |
| #12 One of the few remaining traditional papers is also doing well. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is privately owned by a rich guy who wants it to keep its traditional style, and it is paying off. They gained 13,000 new subscribers this year and jumped about 10 places up the top 100 list. They also have some conservatives on staff, including columnist Paul Greenberg, who is a blast. He lit into Bill Clinton when he was pres, and even though he was nationally syndicated, about the only republication he got was through townhall.com. http://townhall.com/columnists/paulgreenberg/archive.shtml |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-04-27 12:36 |
| #11 My wife subscribed to the New Yorker (did not consult me, either) months ago, and it has never arrived. Ha. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2010-04-27 11:50 |
| #10 Second Abu and Murcek, except the problem with getting the ifad generation is that those owners consider themselves hipper and smarter (and likely are) than the olde gizzards who do the papers. Who in their cool minds are going to download USA Today onto their devices which can gather news from all internet? I have noticed that social grouping (mind you only correct as I know it) the group relies on one, two, maybe three members to be current with the news and dissiminate it at social gatherings. So the market isn't all youngsters - just those few who overqualify to read newspapers and magazines, many of which are out of date within 24 hours nevermind weekly. So they (olde media) turn into op-eds in guise of news..and not many people prefer paying money for however many years worth of low grade lecturing about uninteresting subjects. TV is not much better, most a mile wide and an inch deep. The people I know who get their news in a comedy style know on at least a subconscience level it is still op-ed, but unlike the op-ed from the news-style entertainers they prefer to receive news in a comedy-style format. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-04-27 11:10 |
| #9 The Wall Street Journal and The Arizona Republic are both conservative (as much as the news biz gets anymore) and up. Could be a clue. Something journalists could write about. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-04-27 10:45 |
| #8 Cartoon videos to match their attention span. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-04-27 10:32 |
| #7 Abu gets it, but the newsies don't. If they were smart, they'd remake themselves as digital media delivered to smartphones and iPod / iPad / ebook platforms, and wrap themselves in social networking hoohaw to attract the kiddies. They aren't that smart, though... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2010-04-27 09:35 |
| #6 reaping the fruits of modern public education. the generation that cannot read does not purchase newspapers. the generations of children raised to only think of themselves (self esteem training) does not care about outside events. |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2010-04-27 09:25 |
| #5 But there are some signs that circulation may have started to level off. Yes, but there are only so many local and college library periodical rooms. Not counting the creative accounting in sending copies to addresses who's subscription expired over three years ago. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-04-27 08:05 |
| #4 It has to level off - at zero - since I don't think negative circulation exists. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-04-27 07:57 |
| #3 "But there are some signs that circulation may have started to level off." Yep, the number of birdcages has probably not dropped, so the NYT still has meaningful value. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2010-04-27 07:55 |
| #2 The news papers are not the only news media suffering. Magazines & tv are not doing any better. And it is not just because of their left tilt. Another big issue is that most younger Americans just don't care about news - unless it has to do with American Idol, or maybe the NBA playoffs. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-04-27 07:53 |
| #1 DIE, MONSTER, DIE! |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2010-04-27 07:14 |