April 27, 2009: U.S. daily circulation continues to tumble

The average paid circulation for U.S. newspapers continued to drop, according to statistics released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Ten of the top 25 U.S. newspapers reported double-digit percentage losses for the six-month period ended March 31, ABC’s Fas-Fax reported. Daily circulation declined by more than 7 percent while Sunday distribution tumbled 5.4 percent, ABC said.
The Wall Street Journal was the only top-25 newspapers to report a gain. The paper’s circ increased .61 percent to 2,082,189.
USA Today’s circulation fell 7.4 percent, to 2,113,725, while The New York Times’ circulation dropped 3.5 percent, to 1,039,031.
Big Apple newspapers reported significant losses. The (New York) Daily News’ circ declined 14.26 percent, to 602,857, while the New York Post lost 20.5 percent of its readers, falling to 558,140.
Other newspapers citing double-digit percentage losses include The Houston Chronicle (-13.96 percent), The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer (-11.7 percent), The Philadelphia Inquirer (-13.72 percent), The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. (-16.82 percent), St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times (-10.42 percent) and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (-19.91 percent).
The Denver Post, meantime, said its daily circulation spiked — by 160,000 copies to 371,728 — but its totals were influenced by the closure of JOA partner Rocky Mountain News in February.
In Seattle, where the Post-Intelligencer closed in March, The Seattle Times said it gained almost 100,000 readers, to 289,000.
Two papers, The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, posted Sunday circulation gains, by .2 percent and .3 percent, respectively.