First Draft by Tim Porter

Circulation: More Pain, Little Gain

Newspaper readership remained flat during the last six months, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation's semi-annual report on the industry.

Here are some highlights:

 New Yorkers are loving their tabloids. The Post added 10.6 percent more readers (at 25 cents each) and the Daily News added 2.1 percent. (The Times grew by 0.5 percent).

 The Washington Post and L.A. Times each lost circulation.

 The California recall and election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor "failed to translate into significant gains for any metro daily," according to Editor & Publisher. [ Read: Shouting into the Wind ]

 The Wall Street Journal consolidated its paid online readership (686,000) into its print base for a combined circulation of 2 million.

 Industrywide, the New York Times reported, that average daily circulation was 48.9 million, 0.2 percent more than a year ago. The Sunday average of 53.8 million was done 0.4 percent.

UPDATE: Tom Mangan has a nifty chart up of the top 20 papers.

Links
 Editor & Publisher 'Journal,' 'NY Post' Shine in Lackluster Circ Report
 New York Times Report Has Mixed News for Papers

Posted by Tim Porter at November 4, 2003 07:34 AM