The circulation declines seen by newspapers across the country the past few years got even steeper in the latest reporting period, nearly doubling the rate at this time last year.
Weekday circulation for the 507 daily papers tracked by the Audit Bureau of Circulations slipped 4.6 percent during the six-month period ending Sept. 30, 2008, compared with a 2.6 percent drop during the same period in 2007.
Sunday circulation declines were slightly steeper, off 4.8 percent, compared to 4.6 percent last year. During the most recent reporting period, the six months ended in March, weekday circulation slid 3.6 percent and Sunday was off 4.6 percent.
“I think numerically what’s clear is that the circulation decline is deepening rather than plateauing,” says Ken Doctor, an analyst with Outsell Inc., the publishing consultants. “We’ve seen numbers in roughly the 2.5 to 3.5 percent range for at least three years for daily and Sunday, though Sunday is going down a little more."
Some of those declines are the result of publishers trimming marginal circulation, but the bigger force has been readers dropping their print subscriptions to get their news online or elsewhere.
Doctor sees it getting worse.
“Through that period, publishers have been saying ‘A lot of this we decided to do ourselves. We’re cutting out-of-state circulation, circulation advertisers don’t want that much, but it’s going to plateau soon,’" he says. "The fact is that it is not plateauing, that it is deepening, and that of course is just more bad news.”
The biggest declines were seen at metropolitan dailies like The Houston Chronicle, down 11.66 percent, The Boston Globe, down 10.18 percent, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, down 11.06 percent.
The major national papers, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, were the only top-25 papers to avoid declines, both rising a slight 0.01 percent during the reporting period.
The big downturn comes amid months of increasingly dire headlines for newspapers.
During the first half of the year, newspaper advertising slipped 7.4 percent compared to 2007, according to TNS Media Intelligence, the steepest dip for any medium. Many advertisers have been defecting to the internet, one of the only categories to see growth during first-half 2008.
“What we’re seeing is a quickening acceleration from print to digital. This has been going on for a long time,” Doctor says.
Meanwhile, thousands of newspaper employees were laid off to offset the decrease in circulation and advertising revenue.
At the same time, some of the country’s most prominent newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, have hired new top editors and publishers in efforts to reinvent their publications in the face of the deepening turmoil.
Things are not all bad for the industry.
The Newspaper Association of America points out that newspaper web site audiences rose 15.8 percent during third quarter, to 68.3 million unique visitors, or 41 percent of all U.S. internet users.
And a handful of papers did see weekday circulation increases during the most recent reporting period, including the Wisconsin State Journal, up 10.61 percent, and the Trenton (N.J.) Times, up 5.34 percent.
Among the top 10 newspapers in Monday through Friday circulation, the top nine remained in the same order as last March, with Long Island’s Newsday moving up to No. 10, replacing the Arizona Republic, where circulation slipped 5.51 percent.
Both of New York’s tabloids, the fifth-ranked Daily News and sixth-ranked Post, decreased, though the Daily News’ decline was slightly bigger, 7.16 percent to the Post’s 6.25 percent. The Daily News has a slim 7,000 edge over its bitter rival.
The biggest decliner in the top 25 was the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where circulation fell 13.62 percent.
The most modest decline came at the Washington Post, which was off 1.94 percent after a 3.57 percent decline in the previous reporting period.
For Sunday papers, The New York Times maintained the top position. Its decline of 4.12 percent was less than half its 9.26 percent drop during the March reporting period.
The Washington Post jumped the Chicago Tribune to become the third-biggest Sunday edition, but again all but two papers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, saw year-to-year declines.
|
Top 25 Daily Newspapers – Mon.-Fri
.
Six Months Ended Sept. 30, 2008 |
|
Newspaper
|
2008 Circ (Daily)
|
2007 Circ (Daily)
|
% change
|
|
USA TODAY
|
2,293,310
|
2,293,137
|
0.01
|
|
WALL STREET JOURNAL
|
2,011,999
|
2,011,882
|
0.01
|
|
NEW YORK TIMES
|
1,000,665
|
1,037,828
|
-3.58
|
|
LOS ANGELES TIMES
|
739,147
|
779,678
|
-5.2
|
|
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
|
632,595
|
681,415
|
-7.16
|
|
NEW YORK POST
|
625,421
|
667,118
|
-6.25
|
|
WASHINGTON POST
|
622,714
|
635,012
|
-1.94
|
|
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
|
516,032
|
559,402
|
-7.75
|
|
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
|
448,271
|
507,452
|
-11.66
|
|
NEWSDAY
|
377,517
|
387,498
|
-2.58
|
|
ARIZONA REPUBLIC
|
361,333
|
382,415
|
-5.51
|
|
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
|
339,430
|
365,234
|
-7.07
|
|
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
|
338,933
|
373,586
|
-9.28
|
|
BOSTON GLOBE
|
323,983
|
360,696
|
-10.18
|
|
MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
|
322,360
|
336,697
|
-4.26
|
|
NEWARK STAR-LEDGER
|
316,280
|
353,005
|
-10.4
|
|
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
|
313,176
|
326,018
|
-3.94
|
|
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
|
305,529
|
334,195
|
-8.58
|
|
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
|
300,674
|
338,049
|
-11.06
|
|
DETROIT FREE PRESS
|
298,243
|
320,125
|
-6.84
|
|
OREGONIAN
|
283,321
|
309,464
|
-8.45
|
|
ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
|
274,999
|
318,350
|
-13.62
|
|
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
|
269,819
|
278,176
|
-3.0
|
|
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
|
268,935
|
288,808
|
-6.88
|
|
SACRAMENTO BEE
|
253,249
|
264,413
|
-4.22
|
|
Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations |
|
Top 25 Daily Newspapers – Sunday
Six Months Ended Sept. 30, 2008 |
|
Newspaper
|
2008 Circ (Daily)
|
2007 Circ (Daily)
|
% change
|
|
NEW YORK TIMES
|
1,438,585
|
1,500,394
|
-4.12 |
|
LOS ANGELES TIMES
|
1,055,076
|
1,112,166
|
-5.13
|
|
WASHINGTON POST
|
866,057
|
894,575
|
-3.19
|
|
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
|
864,845
|
917,868
|
-5.78
|
|
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
|
674,104
|
726,304
|
-7.19
|
|
DETROIT FREE PRESS
|
605,369
|
628,839
|
-3.73
|
|
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
|
584,164
|
693,231
|
-15.73
|
|
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
|
556,426
|
645,095
|
-13.75
|
|
DENVER POST/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
|
545,442
|
600,229
|
-9.13
|
|
MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
|
520,828
|
570,024
|
-8.63
|
|
BOSTON GLOBE
|
503,659
|
548,912
|
-8.24
|
|
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
|
483,841
|
523,313
|
-7.54
|
|
ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
|
464,805
|
475,988
|
-2.35
|
|
ARIZONA REPUBLIC
|
463,036
|
480,586
|
-3.65
|
|
NEWARK STAR-LEDGER
|
455,699
|
534,129
|
-14.68
|
|
NEWSDAY
|
433,894
|
454,195
|
-4.47
|
|
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
|
423,588
|
420,225
|
0.8
|
|
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
|
411,061
|
445,800
|
-7.79
|
|
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
|
398,116
|
430,115
|
-7.44
|
|
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
|
390,289
|
389,952
|
0.09
|
|
NEW YORK POST
|
386,105
|
405,486
|
-4.78
|
|
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, TIMES
|
382,332
|
420,587
|
-9.1
|
|
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
|
375,857
|
390,843
|
-3.83
|
|
BALTIMORE SUN
|
350,640
|
364,829
|
-3.89
|
|
OREGONIAN
|
344,950
|
371,380
|
-7.12
|
|
Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations |
