Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Oregonian Circulation Up 2.08% over September 2011

UPDATE: Oregonian circulation falls 5.8% in September 30, 2012 report.

The first yearly comparison under the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) new metrics came out today. The Oregonian had a slight bounce in daily circulation (247,833) from six months ago (242,784), though this is a drop from circulation a year ago.

This is the first ABC report to show circulation figures in terms of print and digital formats. The Oregonian’s print circulation (226,659) accounted for 91.5% of its total with digital circulation at 8.5% (21,174). This is below the national average. ABC: "On average, digital circulation now accounts for 14.2 percent of newspapers’ total circulation mix, up from 8.66 percent in March 2011."

Though showing a -4.82% drop from circulation a year ago, the Oregonian is up 2.08% from 6 months ago. Total slide from March 2000 (358,811) is a -31% drop of 110,978.

The Oregonian is number 21 among the top 25 newspapers in daily circulation.

The Wall Street Journal is number one nationally in daily circulation at 2,118,315. It ranks second in print circulation (1,566,027) as well as second in digital circulation (552,288).

USA Today has the largest print circulation in the U.S. with 1,701,777, but is 6th in digital circulation (115,669). Combined they give USA Today the second largest U.S. daily total circulation (1,817,446).

The New York Times (NYT) had the biggest yearly circulation growth with a 73.05% jump from March, 2011. All of this growth is due to increased digital circulation.* NYT leads the nation’s newspapers in digital circulation (807,026) which has overtaken its print circulation (779,731). A year ago NYT had a digital circulation of only 100,520. That jumped to 300,003 six months ago. The current digital circulation (807,026) is an 800% increase over a year ago and a 200% increase over six months ago. By contrast, NYT print circulation is down -4.5% (-36,660) from a year ago. NYT came in third nationally in total circulation (1,586,757).

ABC reports that as a whole, U.S. newspaper daily circulation is up 0.68% and Sunday circulation up 5% over March, 2011.

Here is ABC’s top 25 list:

Average Circulation at the Top 25 U.S. Daily Newspapers
Preliminary Figures as Filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations – Subject to Audit

(circulation as of 3/31/12 is the first figure; circulation as of 3/31/11 is second, and % change from 3/31/11 is third)
1. WALL STREET JOURNAL 2,118,315 2,117,796 0.02%
2. USA TODAY 1,817,446 1,829,099 -0.64%
3. NEW YORK TIMES 1,586,757 916,911 73.05%
4. LOS ANGELES TIMES 616,575 605,244 1.87%
5. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 579,636 530,924 9.17%
6. SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS 575,786 577,662 -0.32%
7. NEW YORK POST 555,327 522,875 6.21%
8. WASHINGTON POST 507,615 550,821 -7.84%
9. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 422,335 419,408 0.70%
10. CHICAGO TRIBUNE 414,590 437,205 -5.17%
11. DALLAS MORNING NEWS 405,349 404,951 0.10%
12. DENVER POST 401,120 324,970 23.43%
13. NEWSDAY 397,973 298,759 33.21%
14. HOUSTON CHRONICLE 384,007 364,837 5.25%
15. PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER 325,291 343,709 -5.36%
16. PHOENIX REPUBLIC 321,600 337,170 -4.62%
17. MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE 300,330 296,417 1.32%
18. ST. PETERSBURG TIMES 299,497 292,441 2.41%
19. ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER 280,812 182,964 53.48%
20. NEWARK STAR-LEDGER 278,940 229,253 21.67%
21. OREGONIAN 247,833 260,386 -4.82%
22. CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER 246,571 254,372 -3.07%
23. SEATTLE TIMES 236,929 253,740 -6.63%
24. SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE 230,742 218,614 5.55%
25. DETROIT FREE PRESS 230,739 246,169 -6.27%

and the top 25 in digital circulation:

Top 25 U.S. Daily Newspapers with Digital Editions Circulation as of 3/31/12
1. NEW YORK TIMES 807,026
2. WALL STREET JOURNAL 552,288
3. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 156,470
4. DENVER POST 150,920
5. NEW YORK POST 146,748
6. USA TODAY 115,669
7. NEWSDAY 113,616
8. LOS ANGELES TIMES 100,221
9. DETROIT FREE PRESS 98,104
10. LOS ANGELES INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY 94,016
11. HOUSTON CHRONICLE 91,422
12. NEWARK STAR-LEDGER 81,906
13. ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS 75,902
14. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 68,986
15. SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS 66,213
16. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE 63,652
17. MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE 60,533
18. PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER 55,921
19. DALLAS MORNING NEWS 49,795
20. DETROIT NEWS 46,931
21. MIAMI HERALD 45,231
22. BALTIMORE SUN 42,866
23. RIVERSIDE PRESS-ENTERPRISE 41,503
24. WASHINGTON POST 40,165
25. SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 37,055
_____
*UPDATE: The New York Times explains its big digital jump:
"Under audit rules, newspapers can count paid digital subscribers more than once if they have daily access to digital content on multiple platforms like mobile apps or tablets as part of a bundled subscription package.
"So, for example, while the Times Company announced in March that it had 454,000 subscribers for digital versions of The Times and for The International Herald Tribune, the A.B.C. figure for daily Times digital subscribers was just over 807,000."
Thus it appears, NYT through clever bundling increased its digital subscription rate by 78% without increasing readership.

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