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Mar
12
In the top 20 newspapers in the country, only two posted gains in circulation between September 2003 and September 2007. The San Francisco Chronicle was the biggest loser with a decline of 28.85 – ouch.
PAPER — Daily (M-F) Sept. ’07 – Copies, Gained/Lost Since Sept. 03– % Change
USA Today — 2,293,137 — 46,141 — 2.1%
The Wall Street Journal — 2,011,882 — (-79,180) — (-3.8%)
The New York Times — 1,037,828 — (-80,737) — (-7.2%)
Los Angeles Times* — 794,705 — (-201,133) — (-20.2%)
New York Daily News — 681,415 — (-47,709) — (-6.5%)
New York Post — 667,119 — 14,693 — 2.3%
The Washington Post — 635,087 — (-97,785) — (-13.3%)
Chicago Tribune — 559,404 — (-54,105) — (-8.8%)
Houston Chronicle* — 502,631 — (-50,387) — (-9.1%)
Newsday — 387,503 — NA
The Arizona Republic*, Phoenix — 385,214 — (-47,070) — (-10.9%)
The Dallas Morning News — 373,586 — NA
San Francisco Chronicle — 365,234 — (-147,406) — (-28.8%)
The Boston Globe — 360,695 — (-89,843) — (-19.9%)
The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J. — 353,003 — (-55,669) — (-13.6%)
The Philadelphia Inquirer — 338,049 — (-38,444) — (-10.2%)
Star Tribune*, Minneapolis — 341,645 — (-38,709) — (-10.2%)
The Plain Dealer*, Cleveland — 332,894 — (-32,394) — (-8.9%)
Detroit Free Press — 320,125 — (-32,589) — (-9.2%)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — 318,350 — (-64,071) — (-16.8%)
* Daily average is Monday-Saturday.
From the narrative, an account of the decline:
In just four years the top newspapers in the U.S. have collectively lost about 1.4 million copies in daily circulation, E&P has found. But since the reported numbers come out every six months, the overall decline for individual papers may not hit home for many. Each fall off is usually in the low- to mid-single digits — but it sure adds up.
While the industry has lost about 10% of circulation overall in the past four years among the leading papers, some have bled much more than others during the same period, according to an E&P analysis of data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.…
The list compares data from ABC FAS-FAX reports from the six-month period ending September 2003 and the same period for September 2007.
In that September 2003 report, overall daily circulation for the papers reporting to ABC fell about 0.4%, more or less the average decline (then). It wasn’t until the summer of 2004 when Newsday, The Dallas Morning News, the Chicago Sun-Times and others admitted to misstating circulation by thousands of copies, that overall circulation started dropping at least 2%.
The scandals caused advertisers and industry watchers to put circulation under a microscope. Publishers began cutting out what is considered “lesser quality” circulation. That type of circulation falls under the category “other paid.”
Many newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Boston Globe began cutting other paid circulation — employee, hotel, newspapers in educations and especially third party sponsored copies — hence some of the steep decreases.
It would be helpful to have this put in the context of what was/is/has been happening in the papers’ online units and other new media and Internet developments.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:28 am March 12th, 2008 in Blogging, Business, Culture, Economy, Marketing, Media, Ohio, Tech, Wide Open, Writing
Comments
10 Responses to “Plain Dealer lost 8.9% of its daily circulation between 9/03 and 9/07”
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I think the USA Today #s can be a bit misleading because of the fact that so mny places pay for their copies and then give them out for free – like hotels. There are probably just more people giving their paper out then in 2003. Which I am sure is fine in the eyes of USA Today, but I doubt more people are reading it.
“Print is dead.”
-Egon
Ghost Busters (1984)
I think there are two ways of looking at this . One, people may be choosing to ignore the propaganda, I mean the news more now. Or they have found alternative news sources online in print or radio. The propaganda now comes to us in forms of blogs, like the out of nowhere “Politico” web site. Salon.com was started to counter all the attacks Bill Clinton was getting during his tenure. Maybe if they stopped lying us off to war we would be more apt to read their rags.
Funny you should write about this today Jill since I canceled my PD subscription today.
Life’s too short to have Kevin O’Brien delivered to my doorstep.
Ben – are we sure that the numbers don’t include the purchases by USA Today? I didn’t read closely enough but that number has to be huge – that is, the number circulated through hotels etc. That might be in one of the categories that dumped? Hmm – you may be right.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Joe – I know you did not see that movie when it first came out – were you even walking then?
James – the truth in what you write is in the fact that people are using other sources for their news – I don’t think there’s any less interest or trust (the trust level is pretty low already). I think it’s a matter of competition for how and where people access the info.
Keith – what made you cancel? Did you write a post about it (I’m sorry for missing it if you did – can you provide a link? I’d love to read it)?
Jill,
I hit the big 3-0 this year! I saw Ghostbusters at the Memphis Drive-In on the west side with my parents. I love that movie, Bill Murray is comedically brilliant in it.
I am off to eat some Easter candy (I have a Dr.’s appointment tomorrow so I gotta get the candy while the gettin’ is good).
Best,
Joe
Jill,
Yep, right here:
http://tinyurl.com/ytkvty
Life’s too short to have Kevin O’Brien hit your porch every morning (unless its from a great height). As a former journalist who still respects the craft, I was tired of throwing up breakfast after reading his columns.