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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119427904477182611.html?mod=mm_media_marketing_hs_left
Newspapers Try New Math on Circulation
As Numbers Fall, Dailies Trumpet Their Online Draw
By SARAH ELLISON
November 6, 2007; Page B10
Circulation at the nation’s biggest newspapers slid again in the latest six-month period, by an average of 2.6%, a sign of continuing defection of readers and advertisers to the Internet.
But in an attempt to draw attention away from the sagging circulation data, the industry is trying to highlight a new measure: the total number of online and print newspaper readers instead of simply the number of print papers delivered everyday.
“We think we haven’t done the job we should in marketing this industry,” said Stephen P. Hills, president and general manager of the Washington Post, on a conference call.
While advertisers welcomed the additional information, they said it is unlikely to dramatically change their view of the sector.
According to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, average weekday circulation at 538 daily U.S. newspapers reporting figures for the six months ending Sept. 30, 2007 declined 2.6% during the latest period.
Of the top 10 newspapers that reported circulation, the greatest declines were seen at Tribune Co.’s Newsday, where circulation dropped 5.6% and News Corp.’s New York Post, which saw average weekday print circulation drop 5.2%.
Weekday circulation rose 1% to 2.29 million at Gannett Co.’s USA Today, the nation’s largest paper by circulation, but fell 1.5% to 2.01 million at Dow Jones & Co.’s Wall Street Journal, the nation’s second-largest paper, and 4.5% to 1.04 million at the New York Times Co.’s newspaper, the nation’s third-largest daily.
The past few years have been tumultuous for the newspaper industry. The flurry of corporate activity — including a deal to take Tribune Co. private and an agreement to sell Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, to News Corp. — has failed to mask the overarching trends facing the industry. Newspaper circulation has been falling for more than 20 years amid a shift in consumer habits and a proliferation of other news outlets.
To combat the industry’s sagging image, the Audit Bureau teamed with the Newspaper Association of America and Scarborough Research to highlight not just the number of newspapers delivered to households and businesses across the country, but also the total number of people who read them, both online and in print.
The effort culminated in a new measure of newspaper “reach,” which combines circulation, readership and online page views.
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