Newspaper circulation continues to nosedive
The New York Times has a headline on a recent story that has become all too common nowadays: “Circulation plunges at major newspapers.” The average daily circulation for U.S. papers was down by 2.8 per cent in the six months ended September 30, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Sunday papers were down 3.4 percent. And those were the averages — some papers did a lot worse, including the L.A. Times (down 8 per cent daily and 6 per cent on Sunday) and the Boston Globe (down 6.7 per cent daily and almost 10 per cent on Sunday). Even the New York Times lost ground on Sunday (3.5 per cent) although it held steady during the week.
Steve Yelvington says it isn’t just newspapers losing ground to the Web, although that’s obviously part of it — he says it’s also the newspapers that aren’t really local but aren’t really national that are getting hurt the most. Alan Mutter, a former journalist turned venture capitalist, says that part of the picture is also the gradual decline in the kind of “fake” circulation that many newspapers have employed for years, such as dropping bundles of papers off at hotels or taxi stands and counting them as paid. Mark Evans, formerly of the National Post, says that newspapers had better adapt — and fast.
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