Weekdays slide 3.6 percent, Sundays off 4.6 percent
By Lisa Snedeker Apr 28, 2008
The circulation declines that have accelerated in recent years for large daily newspapers have grown steeper still.
With the exception of the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations numbers, released this morning, show declines for some papers that would not have been imaginable a few years ago.
For the six months ending March 31, newspapers’ print circulation fell an average 3.6 percent for 530 newspapers on weekdays. Sunday circulation fell even more, about 4.6 percent on average for 601 papers.
Both the weekday and Sunday numbers are down sharply from just a year ago, when weekday circulation declines averaged 2.6 percent for the comparable period and Sunday circulation fell an average 3.5 percent.
These steeper declines reflect two trends, and one is the continuing erosion cause by the internet. The other is the decision by a number of papers to voluntarily trim circulation, shedding distribution outside their immediate markets that’s of only marginal value to advertisers.
This time around, the only really positive numbers came from the nation’s two largest dailies. USA Today was up 0.3 percent and The Wall Street Journal rose 0.3 percent.
The New York Times saw a daily circulation drop of 3.8 percent, to 1,077,256, while The Washington Post saw similar losses at 3.5 percent, to 673,180.
Tribune Co.’s Los Angeles Times circulation tumbled 5 percent, the Chicago Tribune was down 4 percent, while Newsday dropped nearly 5 percent.
The New York Post and the New York Daily News, whose parent companies are battling for ownership of Newsday, both took daily circulation hits, the Post declining 3 percent and the News down 2 percent on weekdays.
But it was the mid-tiered metro dailies that took the brunt of the circulation declines.
The Dallas Morning News plummeted nearly 11 percent and both the Boston Globe and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution were down more than 8 percent on weekdays.
The publisher of the Dallas Morning News told Media Life last spring that its rapid declines were directly tied to cutting out wasteful circulation and pulling in its outer reaches to focus on its coverage of its core readership base.
Presumably, at least some of the declines at Dallas and the other mid-tier papers are from voluntary trimming.
Other big declines include the Newark Star-Ledger, off 7 percent, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the Detroit Free Press, each with 6 percent drops, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, which fell 5 percent.
The Denver Post/Rocky Mountain News took the biggest Sunday paper circulation hit at 15 percent, followed by the Newark Star-Ledger at 12 percent.
The New York Times and the New York Daily News both saw 9 percent-plus Sunday losses while the New York Post was down close to 9 percent.
Tribune’s Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe saw 6 percent losses on Sunday.
Top 25 Daily Newspapers – Mon.-Fri. Six Months Ended March 31, 2008
Newspaper
2008 Circ (Daily)
2007 Circ (Daily)
% change
USA TODAY
2,284,219
2,278,022
0.27
WALL STREET JOURNAL
2,069,463
2,062,312
0.35
NEW YORK TIMES
1,077,256
1,120,420
-3.85
LOS ANGELES TIMES
773,884
815,723
-5.13
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
703,137
718,173
-2.09
NEW YORK POST
702,488
724,748
-3.07
WASHINGTON POST
673,180
698,116
-3.57
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
541,663
566,827
-4.44
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
494,131
503,114
-1.79
ARIZONA REPUBLIC
413,332
433,731
-4.70
NEWSDAY
379,613
398,231
-4.68
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
370,345
386,564
-4.20
DALLAS MORNING MORNING NEWS
368,313
411,920
-10.59
BOSTON GLOBE
350,605
382,503
-8.34
NEWARK STAR-LEDGER
345,130
372,629
-7.38
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
334,150
352,193
-5.12
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
330,280
344,705
-4.18
ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
326,907
357,399
-8.53
MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
321,984
345,252
-6.74
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
316,007
322,771
-2.10
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
312,274
N/A
N/A
DETROIT FREE PRESS
308,944
330,242
-6.45
OREGONIAN
304,399
319,624
-4.76
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
288,669
296,331
-2.59
SACRAMENTO BEE
268,755
279,032
-3.68
Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations
Top 25 Daily Newspapers – Sunday Six Months Ended March 31, 2008
