The Audit Bureau of Circulations released its circulation report for the most recent 6-month period and as expected, circulation for daily newspapers has continued its almost 25 year descent. For the 745 newspapers reporting data, circulation fell an average of 2.1%. National newspapers like USA Today and the Wall Street Journal actually reported increases in circulation, as did both the New York Post and its New York rival, the Daily News. Other large metro dailies throughout the country, however, reported substantial declines and the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported declines of more than twice the national average. Even worse than the 4.9% drop for the Star Tribune weekday circulation was its 5.3% decline in Sunday circulation. As I said in a post a few weeks ago, and I’ll admit I heard the analogy somewhere in the past month or so but cannot remember at all where it’s from, it’s not pretty watching an animal trapped in a bear trap gnaw its own leg off to escape, but that is exactly the state of the daily newspaper industry today. The escape attempt will be excruciatingly long, slow, and painful, and some will not survive the ordeal.
From the AP story…..
Average paid weekday circulation of the nation’s 20 largest newspapers for
the six-month period ending in March, as reported Monday by the Audit Bureau
of Circulations. The percentage changes are from the comparable year-ago
period.
1. USA Today, 2,278,022, up 0.2 percent
2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,062,312, up 0.6 percent
3. The New York Times, 1,120,420, down 1.9 percent
4. Los Angeles Times, 815,723, down 4.2 percent
5. New York Post, 724,748, up 7.6 percent
6. New York Daily News, 718,174, up 1.4 percent
7. The Washington Post, 699,130, down 3.5 percent
8. Chicago Tribune, 566,827, down 2.1 percent
9. Houston Chronicle, 503,114, down 2 percent
10. The Arizona Republic, 433,731, down 1.1 percent
11. Dallas Morning News, 411,919, down 14.3 percent
12. Newsday, Long Island, 398,231, down 6.9 percent
13. San Francisco Chronicle, 386,564, down 2.9 percent
14. The Boston Globe, 382,503, down 3.7 percent
15. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 372,629, down 6.1 percent
16. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 357,399, down 2.1 percent
17. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 352,593, up 0.6 percent
18. Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul, 345,252, down 4.9 percent
19. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, 344,704, up 0.5 percent
20. Detroit Free Press, 329,989, down 4.7 percent
The Dallas Morning News is reporting for the first time since being censured
in 2004 for misstating circulation figures. The Chicago Sun-Times has not
yet resumed reporting.
Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations.