ABC Top 25 (March '08)

Moddy, metro Boston population is slightly over 3 million, with variations according to how you define the area.
In 1990 Herald circulation was 300K. Now the Globe's 350. Yikes!

 

Wonder why percent change isn't available for the Sun Times?

 

Legal issues relating to the Hollinger Corp.?

 

Thought all of those issues (sale, court action, etc.) were resolved by 2006?
Oh well.
More on topic -- I'm with Moddy - I'd like to see more than just top 25. Will have to research that.

 

E&P has only put up the Top 25. The FAS-FAX reports come out about two weeks before ABC makes data generally available on its web site through the eCirc section. So unless you can get a credential for press access to the reports, then you have to wait a little bit before you can check out the gains/declines at papers that E&P and other trade publications don't say much about. The lag time gives publishers a chance to correct any mistakes, among other things.

 

There's the story I posted that shows the Top 12 circulation gainers.
Of the Top 12, 6 have circulations below 90K and that figure increases to 8 if you want to make it papers under 100K.

So it appears that the mid-sized papers are weathering the storm better than some of the big metros. But that can all change in a quarter or a year.

 

I think this has been true, in my state, the top eight papers, three lost circ, and five gained. All tiny percentages, but they were still up. The ones that lost, were also tiny percentages as well.
So my market is relatively stable. For now.
Interesting to hear on Denver. I know one paper in my market that lost circ a year or so ago, because they weren't allowed to count the copies they sold to the hospitals and nursing homes.
But lots of places have cut what they call "vanity circulation" the most notable being Dallas axing its multi-state distribution.

 

But didn't Denver's online subscription for PDF versions of the paper skyrocket recently? I believe I heard/learned that at a recent conference I attended.

 

The AJC's drop is partly due to eliminating distribution to a lot of outlying areas. I'd look for this to happen more and more as fuel prices boost delivery costs. Advertisers don't want to pay for circulation outside the paper's metro area.

As circulation numbers drop and online numbers rise, look for newspapers to downplay the ABC numbers and point toward growth in "readership" across "delivery platforms," or some such phrase. I know we touted that idea externally and internally. Fortunately, there is some truth to the notion that print readership is only one side of the equation. Unfortunately, print advertising remains key to supporting payrolls, and one online reader is not yet equal to one print reader in terms of value to advertisers.

 

Now if we could subtract all those readers who buy the Sunday paper for the coupons and ads, we'd really be ready for the 15th floor ledge.

Drop on Sundays means those arguments (which I have bought and passed along in past) about the busy working person not having morning time for the paper doesn't apply so much. It's more that people do not bother with newspapers even when they have time. Or they filch the leftover sections at Starbucks on Sundays.

 

People buy the paper for all sorts of reasons.
Just because they want the coupons isn't a reason to go jump out the window.
I would make a fairly solid argument that Sunday isn't the day of leisure it used to be for most people.
I think it is the busiest day for grocery shopping and when you factor in church going, that wipes out a big chunk of the day.

 

Well, fewer people producing less content gives less incentive for anyone to spend their money - which goes less and less far with each day - on a newspaper that's whittling itself down to a hull of what it once was.

It's especially sad that the Houston Chronicle, in one of the metros that's doing pretty well amidst the economic downturn, can't even post a gain. And it's the only daily in the nation's fourth-largest city. There is no good excuse at all for this.