Posted on 08/08/2005 11:36:06 AM PDT by george76
Denver's two daily newspapers are bulking up declining paid circulation by aggressive use of auditing rules that let them count readers who pay less than half-price for the papers -- or sometimes nothing at all.
It's being done, advertising and newspaper industry experts say, to justify advertising rates that show no signs of coming down -- despite a 36 percent drop in the combined daily circulation of The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News...
On an average weekday, more than 13 percent -- or about 71,650 copies daily -- of the "paid" circulation claimed by the Post and News is distributed in bulk to hotels, restaurants and other locations or delivered to selected addresses -- often at no cost to the recipient.
Singleton, whose Media News Group makes up one half of the Denver Newspaper Agency -- publishers of the Post and News -- is one of the nation's most aggressive users of the more liberal circulation reporting rules.
When the "other paid" papers are removed from the mix, the News beats the Post every weekday.
...federal authorities, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, have launched an industrywide inquiry into circulation reporting.
Barlow said the newspaper industry has been forced to get creative because of the general slide in circulation, and that some of the marketing pitches have been humorous.
"I've been pitched by The New York Times, who tried to say their 'wantedness' was up," Barlow said. "I had to ask, 'What is that? Is that a financial measurement? Can I put that in a report?'"
In the end, it's the advertisers who must navigate the maze of circulation facts and figures to determine where to spend their money.
...newspapers will give away copies of the paper to increase circulation in order to justify higher advertising rates.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
> In the end, it's the advertisers who must navigate
> the maze of circulation facts and figures to
> determine where to spend their money.
... few realizing that in the case of liberal rags,
Soros may be buying thousands of copies to inflate the
figures, and having the containerloads dumped at sea.
:-)
I think.
Somebody just signed me up for a free trial susbscription to both rags, one on Sat. and the other on Sun. I wonder now if it's to add one each to the subscription numbers to both rags. And no, I won't continue to subscribe after the free period expires.
Our local DNC paper also started giving away free copies periodically.
They're having dead people subscribe?
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