US: Print circulation falls, newspapers respond

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 9, 2009 at 5:39 PM

Print newspaper circulation is down across the U.S., Editor and Publisher reports, in an article that examines reasons for, and responses to, the fall.

According to the October figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, weekday circulation is down just over 10% year-on-year, the first drop to reach double digits. Some newspapers suffered falls double that size. Sunday circulation is also down 7%.

Print circulation has been affected by the migration of readers to online news websites, and increasingly to mobile news applications and e-readers. Indeed, the data shows that the combined audiences for online and print products often rose.

But the figures for print dropped the farthest in modern history, according to the report. Interesting, then, that its headline screams "Print NOT Dead!"

One explanation offered for such a disparity is the news that circulation revenue increased as subscription prices rose. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle raised their subscription price by 63% to $7.75 weekly. Circulation plunged, but the increased revenue has turned last year's loss into a profit. Of course, this kind of strategy can only be sustained so far.

Elsewhere, the Dallas Morning News examined their circulation revenue, and conducted market research to find out what loyal readers wanted to see in the paper and how much they were prepared to pay.

They found that if the price went up, but readers perceived that there was more content in the newspaper, around 10% of subscribers would cancel. If they raised the price but consumers felt like there was less in the paper, this figure jumped to 40%.

More content, though, couldn't just be any content for these figures to hold true. In the study, readers found local and national news to be valuable, as well as business news, sports, and investigative journalism.

The data on circulation masks individual success stories though. Circulation has been rising at The New York Times, while across the pond, circulation at the London Evening Standard has more than doubled since it went free.

Circulation figures also fail to indicate actual readership, as they only show how many copies of a given newspaper were sold. Maybe one person read that copy on the train, or maybe dozens flipped through it in the doctor's waiting room. Readership is harder to measure.

But it's clear that if circulation has fallen this much, research and measurement are more important than ever.

Source: Editor and Publisher