US newspaper circulation drops five percent, except WSJ

Average daily US newspaper circulation fell 4.99 percent during the six months ending on September 30 compared with the same period a year ago, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) said.

Average Sunday circulation fell 4.46 percent, the bureau said.

While the drop provided another dose of bad news for an industry that has seen a wave of bankruptcies, closures and cutbacks, the decline was not as steep as during the previous reporting period.

Average daily newspaper circulation fell 8.74 percent during the previous six months while Sunday circulation dropped 6.54 percent.

Of the top 25 US daily papers, The Wall Street Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., was one of just two reporting a daily circulation gain. This may be ascribed to “a need to know” in tough economic times, or even could be as a result of a paywall that is in place.

The Wall Street Journal’s average daily circulation increased 1.82 percent to 2.06 million while that of the Dallas Morning News was up 0.25 percent to 264,459.

New York’s Newsday, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Houston Chronicle all registered double-digit declines in circulation.

The latest ABC figures come as US newspapers grapple with declining print advertising revenue, eroding circulation and the migration of readers to free news on the Web. – AFP