Circulation Falls at Many Papers

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117794322255886957-MDbucolIu_Dq074nc14qWrtEYLA_20080430.html?mod=livemint

Circulation Falls at Many Papers
By SARAH ELLISON
May 1, 2007; Page B7

Many of the nation's newspapers continued to post circulation
declines, reflecting the industry's continuing battle to hold onto
readers migrating to the Internet and other media, according to the
latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Average daily circulation of the 745 newspapers reporting data fell
2.1% for the six months ended March 31, compared with the year-earlier
period, according to an analysis from the Newspaper Association of
America, an industry group. The rate of decline was a little less than
in the past several reporting periods.

"Things are getting worse at a slightly lower rate," said John Morton,
an independent newspaper analyst.

The biggest declines occurred at large metropolitan papers such as
Tribune Co.'s Newsday of Long Island, down 6.9%, and Belo Corp.'s
Dallas Morning News, where circulation fell 14%. About half of the
Morning News' decline came from its decision to cut back distribution
to within a 100-mile perimeter of Dallas-Forth Worth, as well as an
effort to cut back on bulk circulation, the paper said.

The past six months have been tumultuous for the industry, with the
auction of Tribune, and the sale of such venerable papers as the
Minneapolis Star Tribune, which McClatchy Co. sold to a private-equity
firm earlier this year. While executives have adopted such measures as
changing their companies' ownership structures, these moves haven't
addressed the underlying challenges facing the industry.

Daily circulation of U.S. newspapers peaked in 1984, and since then
has fallen nearly 16% to 53.3 million as of 2005, according to the
NAA. In recent years, publishers have beefed up their Web sites in an
effort to capture more readers online. But newspapers still aren't
able to charge comparable rates for online advertising, so online
revenue has yet to make up for print advertising revenue declines. To
highlight newspaper readership online, the Audit Bureau of
Circulations, a nonprofit association of advertisers, ad agencies and
publishers, is working on a system to consistently track combined
print and online circulation.

While newspapers are losing readers, publishers are doing a better job
of holding onto the readers they have. The NAA said that last year,
subscriber churn -- the percentage of subscribers that dropped their
subscriptions in the previous year -- fell to 36.5%, down from 54.5%
in 2000.

The circulation report showed the pressures on Tribune, which recently
decided to go private in an $8.2 billion buyout. In addition to the
falloff at Newsday, the company's biggest title, the Los Angeles Times
reported a 4.2% decline in circulation to 815,723. The Chicago
Tribune, another big Tribune paper, reported a 2.1% decline to 566,827
in the latest period.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, which was sold last year to a group of
private investors, reported a 0.61% increase in circulation compared
with the year-earlier period. It was the paper's first gain in total
circulation since 2004.

New York Times Co. said circulation at its flagship paper fell 1.93%
to 1.12 million.

The Dallas Morning News was included in the ABC report for the first
time in two years. The Morning News was one of a number of newspapers
that admitted several years ago to inflating its circulation figures.
It was excluded from the ABC audit for two years as a result. Ever
since, the paper has made an effort to cut back on bulk circulation --
free copies of the paper delivered to such locations as hotels and
airports. "We were distributing papers as far as Oklahoma City and
Little Rock, Arkansas," said Jim Moroney, publisher and chief
executive of the Morning News. "We've pulled back to focus on
circulation that brings results for our advertisers." Mr. Moroney said
the declines at the paper would likely outpace those of its peer group
for another year.

National papers fared better than metro dailies. Gannett Co.'s USA
Today, the nation's largest paper, posted a slight 0.23% increase in
circulation to 2.28 million. The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow
Jones & Co., reported a 0.61% increase to 2.06 million.

One rivalry trumped industry trends. The New York Post, owned by
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., and its crosstown rival, the Daily News,
owned by real-estate developer Mortimer Zuckerman, have long been
locked in a fierce competition for New York readers. Those papers had
the largest increases among major metropolitan daily papers, with the
Post reporting a 7.6% increase for the period versus a year ago, and
the Daily News reporting a 1.4% increase.

But the Post's recent gains may be eroded by the paper's recent
decision to double its weekday price to 50 cents a copy, up from 25
cents. Yesterday, the first day of the Post's increased price, the
Daily News temporarily dropped its price to 25 cents and featured the
cut-rate price on its cover.

Write to Sarah Ellison at sarah.ellison@xxxxxxx


--
Members of the ZESTMedia list exchange news and views about the media in 
Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan. Write to 
ZESTMedia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTMedia by sending a blank 
mail to ZESTMedia-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by 
visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/

Get all ZESTMedia mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. 
Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to 
ZESTMedia-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your 
settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/

theZESTcommunity-------------------------------------------------

ZESTCurrent: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCurrent/
ZESTEconomics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTEconomics/
ZESTGlobal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/
ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/
ZESTPoets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTPoets/
ZESTCaste: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
ZESTAlternative: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTAlternative/
TalkZEST: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TalkZEST/