First FAS-FAX Numbers: Many Top Papers Take Big Hits (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Editor & Publisher ^ | November 5 2007 | Jennifer Saba

[Milhous]

Published: November 05, 2007 8:10 AM ET updated all morning

NEW YORK The Audit Bureau of Circulations released circulation numbers for more than 700 daily newspapers this morning for the six-month period ending September 2007. Of the top 25 papers in daily circulation (see chart, separate story), only four showed gains.

According to an analysis of ABC figures, for 538 daily U.S. newspapers, circulation declined 2.5% to 40,689,617. For 609 papers that filed on Sunday, overall circulation dropped 3.5% to 46,771,486. The percentages are based on comparisons from the same period a year ago and represent the majority of the paper's reporting into ABC -- less than half in the country.

For The New York Times, daily circulation fell 4.51% to 1,037,828 and Sunday plunged 7.59% to 1,500,394, at least partly due to a price increase.

Daily circulation at The Washington Post was down 3.2% to 635,087 and Sunday was down 3.9% to 894,428.

Daily circulation at The Boston Globe tumbled 6.6% to 360,695 and Sunday fell about the same, 6.5% to 548,906.

The Wall Street Journal was down 1.53% to 2,011,882 daily but USA Today posted a gain of 1% to 2,293,137.

The New York Post slipped this period with daily circ down 5.2% to 667,119 and Sunday fell 5% to 405,486. New York's Daily News also showed declines in daily circ, down 1.7% to 681,415 while Sunday decreased 6.8% to 726,305. But it regained its tabloid lead in daily circ in New York vs. the Post.

At the Chicago Tribune, daily circulation slipped 2.9% to 559,404 and Sunday fell 2% to 917,868.

Its sister publication, the Los Angeles Times, grew slightly up 0.5% to 779,682, while Sunday fell 5.1% to 1,112,165.

Daily and Sunday circulation at the San Francisco Chronicle has stabilized, down 2.9% to 365,234 and 0.6% to 430,115, respectively.

Both The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News experienced deep declines -- more than 10%.

The Philadelphia Inquirer slipped on Sunday but gained 2.3% daily.

Losses at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland were minimal. Daily circulation declined slightly 0.8% to 334,195 while Sunday was flat at 445,795.

In the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, circulation declined in Minneapolis and was virtually flat in St. Paul. At the Star Tribune, daily dropped 6.5% to 335,443, and Sunday was down 4.3% to 570,443. Daily and Sunday circulation at the St. Paul Pioneer Press was up a fraction -- 0.1% for both averages. Daily circ is 184,474 and Sunday is 245,930.

For the first time since Hurricane Katrina, The Times-Picayune in New Orleans reported that daily circulation: It is 179,912 and Sunday is 199,970. There are no corresponding data for comparisons in the September 2006 period.

Daily circulation at The Sun in Baltimore slipped 1.4% to 232,749 and 4.1% to 364,827 on Sunday. At The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., daily was down 2.7% to 353,003 and Sunday was down 5.5% to 534,128.

The Indianapolis Star reported that daily circ declined 2.1% to 253,209 and Sunday dropped 2.3% to 337,421. Daily and Sunday circ at The Kansas City Star decreased 2.9% to 247,274 and 3.4% to 343,308, respectively.

Daily circulation rose slightly at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times -- it was up fractions of a point to 288,807, as well as Sunday to 389,952.

At The Orange County (Calif.) Register, daily and Sunday fell about 3% and 3.5% to 278,507 and 325,003 respectively.

Daily circ at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix declined 3.7% to 382,414 while Sunday decreased 4.6% to 480,585.

Circulation at the San Jose Mercury News is showing signs of life. Daily was virtually flat at 228,537. Sunday inched up 0.3% to 252,404.

As expected, circulation -- at least paid circulation -- continues to decline sharply. For the past several years, publishers, particularly those at major metros, have been whittling back on circulation considered to be less useful by advertisers. Those papers fall into the category of other paid, which includes hotel, Newspapers in Education, employee, and third party copies.

With the business model under extreme pressure, publishers are also choosing to cut back on circulation in outlying areas and instead focus on "core" markets.

Of course, the trend points to fewer people reading the paper too as single-copy sales, considered a barometer of the industry, is decreasing at larger rates than the overall top line number -- somewhere in the ballpark of 5%.

But for the first time, ABC also released comprehensive "audience" data -- print readership, online readership, unduplicated reach, and monthly unique users -- for roughly 200 papers. The industry is moving toward numbers that take into consideration all their products, including newspaper Web sites, not just paid circulation.

**

A list of the top 25 newspapers can be seen here.

An E&P FAS-FAX preview can be read here.

[Milhous]

FAS-FAX: Top 25 Daily and Sunday U.S. Newspapers

NEW YORK Here is a chart for the Top 25 newspapers by circulation, both daily and Sunday, based on the new FAS-FAX numbers released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations this morning, for six-month period ending Sept. 30.

The full story can be read here. .

--Average Daily Circulation at the Top 25 U.S. Daily Newspapers-- Preliminary Figures as Filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations -- Subject to Audit

Total Paid Daily Circulation, Monday through Friday average

Newspaper -- Current number, last year -- % Change

USA TODAY (AKA "The Nations' Doormat") -- 2,293,137 -- 2,269,509 -- (+1.04%)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL -- 2,011,882 -- 2,043,235 -- (-1.53%)

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- 1,037,828 -- 1,086,797 – (-4.51%)

LOS ANGELES TIMES -- 779,682 -- 775,765 -- (+0.50%)

DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK -- 681,415 -- 693,423 – (-1.73%)

NEW YORK POST -- 667,119 -- 704,011 – (-5.24%)

THE WASHINGTON POST -- 635,087 -- 656,298 – (-3.23%)

CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- 559,404 -- 576,131 –(-2.90%)

HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 507,437 -- 508,091 – (-0.13%)

NEWSDAY -- 387,503 -- 410,578 – (-5.62%)

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 382,414 -- 397,295 – (-3.75%)

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS -- 373,586 -- 404,652 – (-7.68%)

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- 365,234 -- 373,805 -- (-2.29%)

BOSTON GLOBE -- 360,695 -- 386,417 – (-6.66%)

THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK, N.J. -- 353,003 -- 363,100 – (-2.78%)

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER -- 338,260 -- 330,622 -- (+2.31%)

STAR TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS -- 335,443 -- 358,887 – (-6.53%)

THE PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND -- 334,195 -- 336,940 – (-0.81%)

DETROIT FREE PRESS -- 320,125 -- 328,719 – (-2.61%)

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION -- 318,350 -- 350,159 – (-9.08%)

THE OREGONIAN, PORTLAND -- 309,467 -- 310,805 – (-0.43%)

ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES -- 288,807 -- 288,679 -- 0.04%

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER -- 278,507 -- 287,204 – (-3.03%)

SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE -- 278,379 -- 304,334 -- (-8.53%)

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH -- 265,111 -- 276,677 – (-4.18%)

***

Total Paid Sunday Circulation

Newspaper -- Current number, last year -- % Change

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- 1,500,394 -- 1,623,698 – (-7.59%)

LOS ANGELES TIMES -- 1,112,165 -- 1,172,004 – (-5.11%)

CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- 917,868 -- 937,906 – (-2.14%)

THE WASHINGTON POST -- 894,428 -- 930,620 – (-3.89%)

DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK -- 726,305 -- 779,346 – (-6.81%)

HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 693,228 -- 692,593 -- (+0.09%)

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER -- 662,304 -- 682,252 – (-2.92%)

DETROIT FREE PRESS -- 628,839 -- 656,953 – (-4.28%)

DENVER POST/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS -- 600,229 -- 694,053 – (-13.52%)

STAR TRIBUNE OF MINNEAPOLIS -- 570,443 -- 596,330 – (-4.34%)

BOSTON GLOBE -- 548,906 -- 587,289 – (-6.54%)

THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK, N.J. -- 534,128 -- 565,640 -- (-5.57%)

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS -- 523,313 -- 566,608 – (-7.64%)

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 480,585 -- 503,952 – (-4.64%)

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION -- 475,988 -- 523,968 – (-9.16%)

NEWSDAY -- 454,194 -- 474,749 – (-4.33%)

THE PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND -- 445,795 -- 446,484 – (-0.15%)

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- 430,115 -- 432,957 – (-0.66%)

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, TIMES -- 420,587 -- 423,275 – (-0.64%)

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH -- 420,222 -- 418,443 – (+0.43%)

NEW YORK POST -- 405,486 -- 427,264 – (-5.10%)

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL -- 390,840 -- 401,379 – (-2.63%)

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES -- 389,952 -- 386,664 -- (+0.85%)

THE OREGONIAN, PORTLAND -- 371,386 -- 375,757 – (-1.16%)

THE SUN, BALTIMORE -- 364,827 -- 380,701 – (-4.17%)

---

[Milhous]

ping

[bajabaja]

Somebody needs to tell the newspapers they are in a recession. Seems they think the US economy is in one, despite +3.9% growth numbers recently.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Daily and Sunday circulation at the San Francisco Chronicle has stabilized, down 2.9% to 365,234 and 0.6% to 430,115, respectively.

If continually going down is stabilizing, it won't be long before the paper is fully stabilized.

[Bob]

It would be interesting to see the population change in these circulation areas over the same time periods. If the population is going up while the circulation is going down, the situation is actually worse than the absolute comparisons would indicate.

[listenhillary]

While we celebrate the demise of some newspapers, we need to think about what will take it’s place.

How do we pay investigative reporters so they don’t go away? Better question. How do we judge the balance of the investigative reporting with out having to become investigative reporters ourselves?

Do we have reporters that have the conservative seal of approval? Or the liberal seal of approval? Let them get away with little lies and let mediamatters or Free Republic and bloggers separate the wheat from the chaff?

[Secret Agent Man]

I think all newspapers need to go paperless in order to do their part in ‘saving the planet’. /sarc

Actually it would probably help them from a monetary standpoint. Push them into 21st century journalism and setting up podcasts, subscriber services, allowing people to be sent stories on topic areas they select (that the reader is interested in), etc. etc.

The ones that did a better job at true factual reporting (as opposed to editorializing pieces that are not editorials) will gain popularity, the others will attract democrats who won’t want to pay for anything.

[Doctor Raoul]

I prefer the term “Controlled Descent Into Terrain”.

[Doctor Raoul]

How do we pay investigative reporters so they don’t go away?

Only you and Art Bell believes that investigative reporters exist.

[Doctor Raoul]

I ran the nubers on the PINKY, Philadelphia Inquirer, and when you look at how much the made 6 days a week, versus the loss in Sunday revenue, it's a wash.

But the Sunday paper carries more advertising and when it drops 6%, the rate they can charge will fall.

PINKY's in a death spiral.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

What you said is true for the Arizona Republic. Primarily reporting on news in Phoenix, one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, yet its numbers are still declining. Once it was a good paper, but then Gannett took over and fired the conservative editorial board. The hacks who write for it now have driven it into the tank.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

The industry is moving toward numbers that take into consideration all their products, including newspaper Web sites, not just paid circulation.

Isn't that what got them in trouble with fudging numbers in the first place? Or am I thinking of the magazine debacle?

Probably. Let's ask the experts.

[Milhous]

Advertisers Sue 'Minneapolis Star Tribune' Over Circulation Inflation - 06/29/2005
Time Inc. Gets A U.S. Subpoena About Circulation - 09/24/2005
Denver papers use liberal rules to boost circulation - 08/08/2005
Arrests made in Newsday circulation scandal - 06/16/2005
Belo Begins Refunding Advertisers Over Inflated Circulation Figures (Texas) - 05/02/2005
Newsday, Hoy publishers retire amid circulation scandal - 07/19/04
Tribune Company (LA Times parent) Admits Inflated Circulation Numbers At Two Papers - 06/23/2004

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Thanks Milhous!

[ConservativeMind]

That is a great response.

[abb]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119427904477182611.html?mod=mm_media_marketing_hs_left

Newspapers Try New Math on Circulation
As Numbers Fall, Dailies Trumpet Their Online Draw
By SARAH ELLISON
November 6, 2007; Page B10

Circulation at the nation’s biggest newspapers slid again in the latest six-month period, by an average of 2.6%, a sign of continuing defection of readers and advertisers to the Internet.

But in an attempt to draw attention away from the sagging circulation data, the industry is trying to highlight a new measure: the total number of online and print newspaper readers instead of simply the number of print papers delivered everyday.

“We think we haven’t done the job we should in marketing this industry,” said Stephen P. Hills, president and general manager of the Washington Post, on a conference call.

While advertisers welcomed the additional information, they said it is unlikely to dramatically change their view of the sector.

According to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, average weekday circulation at 538 daily U.S. newspapers reporting figures for the six months ending Sept. 30, 2007 declined 2.6% during the latest period.

Of the top 10 newspapers that reported circulation, the greatest declines were seen at Tribune Co.’s Newsday, where circulation dropped 5.6% and News Corp.’s New York Post, which saw average weekday print circulation drop 5.2%.

Weekday circulation rose 1% to 2.29 million at Gannett Co.’s USA Today, the nation’s largest paper by circulation, but fell 1.5% to 2.01 million at Dow Jones & Co.’s Wall Street Journal, the nation’s second-largest paper, and 4.5% to 1.04 million at the New York Times Co.’s newspaper, the nation’s third-largest daily.

The past few years have been tumultuous for the newspaper industry. The flurry of corporate activity — including a deal to take Tribune Co. private and an agreement to sell Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, to News Corp. — has failed to mask the overarching trends facing the industry. Newspaper circulation has been falling for more than 20 years amid a shift in consumer habits and a proliferation of other news outlets.

To combat the industry’s sagging image, the Audit Bureau teamed with the Newspaper Association of America and Scarborough Research to highlight not just the number of newspapers delivered to households and businesses across the country, but also the total number of people who read them, both online and in print.

The effort culminated in a new measure of newspaper “reach,” which combines circulation, readership and online page views.

snip

[Grampa Dave]

This report, comments and the bs that the newspapers aren’t that bad off, continues to show the Enron Reality of cooking their books.

Never believe anything that is printed by the dinosaur fishwraps and never believe their cooked books re subscriptions.

They are now apparently trying to push # of readers versus copies sold. That is a total phantom # will Enron the bottom line.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Exactly!

[Grampa Dave]

Earlier this week, Tom Sullivan got into this reader versus subscriber myth/bs while discussing this latest data.

The fishwraps and mags have lied to their subscribers for decades re people buying and subscribing to their waste of pulp.

If you follow their spin: My wife gets gift subscriptions to Martha Stewart’s Mag and Sunset. I never look at Stewart’s mag and will read some recipes from Sunset. The spinners would include me as a reader since I live where these two mags are sent.

The same thing applies to the 2 fly fishing magazines I get and the couple my son gets. Our wives never look at them, yet they might be tallied as readers as they live where the mags are sent.

I have wondered if fishwraps and mags count the daily patient load in Doctors’s and Dentists’s office where their pulp waste comes free.