Numbers: Newspaper consumption low, subscription cancellations down

Posted by Nestor Bailly on October 2, 2009 at 10:40 AM

Total newsprint consumption in the U.S. plummeted 27.1% since last August, according to data from the Pulp and Paper Products Council. Almost all of the slowdown occurred in August alone, when 26.3% of consumption dropped from 3.415 million tons of 2009's first eight months to 2.682 million tons.

Production of newsprint also fell 38.6%, while overseas exports dropped 44% since last year. Curiously enough, overseas imports to North America (all to the U.S.) rose 24.8%. Both Canadian and American paper mill operating rates were at just 65% in August, compared to 96% and 97% last year.

With newsprint markets still sliding, analysts have said more downtime -- particularly permanent closures -- would be needed to firm up markets enough to raise prices. Last week, AbitibiBowater Inc. announced several indefinite shutdowns of newsprint capacity at three Canadian mills and one mill in the U.S., plus a groundwood paper mill in Canada.

However, there is some good news from Editor and Publisher: Subscriber churn, the number of canceled subscriptions, has fallen to 38% in 2009 from 54.5% in 2000 according to the Newspaper Association of America's 2009 Circulation Facts, Figures and Logic study.

"As the fall in subscriber churn indicates, publishers have focused their efforts on retaining subscribers in key market segments that translate into maximum advertiser value," John Sturm, president and CEO of the NAA, said in a statement. These data will likely reinforce the increasing trend of publishers to focus on their core readers; websites are beginning to do the same as well. But the emphasis on keeping more people with a particular paper at the expense of general circulation comes with a loaded assumption: That if people want quality news, they will have to pay a premium for it.

Sources: Editor and Publisher 1

Editor and Publisher 2