The Audit Bureau of Circulations’ FAS-FAX report on paid U.S. newspaper circulation, released Monday for the six-month period ending in September, showed an average daily circulation drop rate for 507 member newspapers almost doubling — to 4.8 percent — over the same period last year.
According to the preliminary report, the average paid circulation rate of 571 Sunday edition members also fell, but only by 0.2 percent, to 4.8 percent year over year.
“The decline is worse than it has been in the past,” newspaper industry analyst John Morton said. “On top of the long-term decline that’s been going on since the late 1980s, we now have all this economic uncertainly, which can cause people to cancel subscriptions or not buy newspapers.”
Daily circulation at The Wall Street Journal and USA Today increased in statistically negligible amounts.
Circulation at The Washington Post declined 1.9 percent daily and 3.1 percent on Sunday; daily circulation at The New York Times declined 3.5 percent; and daily and Sunday circulation of The Chicago Tribune declined 7.7 percent and 5.7 percent respectively.
The Sun, a property of Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, sustained a daily circulation decline of 5.9 percent and a Sunday drop of 3.8 percent for the period. – G.M. Corrigan
