A bit of good news for print media. The Wall St. Journal said its circulation had increase to 2.02 million, including print and online subscriptions. USA Today has been the long-time circulation champ in the U.S., but saw its circulation drop slightly to 1.9 million.
About 356,000 people subscribe to the Journal online. It's unclear how many of those also subscribe to the print edition (as I do).
It's also important to note that the Journal's increase occurred even with a price increase -- but it's also important to note that the online subscription rate is significantly lower than the print subscription rate. So you can't estimate the revenue figure just from 2.02 million subscribers. Yet the Journal is one of a handful of sites to successfully charge t for online content.
It may not matter to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, which monitors and certifies circulation figures, but I think advertisers might care about the overlap in print and online subscribers.
I wonder if my two subscriptions should count as if two people are receiving the paper. Some days I don't touch the printed version, some days, I don't log onto wsj.com. I pay twice, but I'm not two people so advertisers paying on that basis are being mislead.
Showing posts with label Audit Bureau of Circulation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Audit Bureau of Circulation. Show all posts
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Newspaper Circulation Continues to Drop
Not surprisingly, daily circulation of the top 395 newspapers feel 7.1 percent, according to Audit Bureau of Circulation, which monitors circulation figures for newspapers. Not sure if that 395 includes the late Rocky Mountain News, the online-only Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, which have cut back their midweek production runs.
Both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald lost circulation. I would bet that the Globe will find a big drop this quarter, as a result of the saber rattling by the NY Times Co. that it may close down the Globe. Nothing like announcing troubles at a print property to exacerbate worries among advertisers and subscribers.
That would explain the significant drop in circulation at the Philadelphia Inquirer (-13.8%) which filed for bankruptcy protection or the San Francisco Chronicle (-15.7%), which may shift to online-only mode.
Not sure what explains the drop (-7.5%) at USA Today. Since so many people get USA Today free when traveling, I assume the circ drop is the result of the drop in hotel stays.
Balancing the drop in circ. is the increase in people reading newspaper websites. With all the attention to the fact you can get the same news, faster and free plus have less ink on your hands, it makes sense that people would switch to online versions.
Looks like the Detroit Free Press may be finally living up to its name. As long as it drops the "Press" part of its name. You can check out the grid here: https://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_Graphic/2009/04/28/28audit-pgB11__1240910560_7755.gif.
Both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald lost circulation. I would bet that the Globe will find a big drop this quarter, as a result of the saber rattling by the NY Times Co. that it may close down the Globe. Nothing like announcing troubles at a print property to exacerbate worries among advertisers and subscribers.
That would explain the significant drop in circulation at the Philadelphia Inquirer (-13.8%) which filed for bankruptcy protection or the San Francisco Chronicle (-15.7%), which may shift to online-only mode.
Not sure what explains the drop (-7.5%) at USA Today. Since so many people get USA Today free when traveling, I assume the circ drop is the result of the drop in hotel stays.
Balancing the drop in circ. is the increase in people reading newspaper websites. With all the attention to the fact you can get the same news, faster and free plus have less ink on your hands, it makes sense that people would switch to online versions.
Looks like the Detroit Free Press may be finally living up to its name. As long as it drops the "Press" part of its name. You can check out the grid here: https://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Third_Party_Graphic/2009/04/28/28audit-pgB11__1240910560_7755.gif.
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