Newspapers say Net presence mitigates circulation declines

In an effort to highlight their own growing presence on the Web, more than 100 large newspapers also began releasing new sets of data for the latest six-month reporting period that measure the size and reach of their online audiences.

USA Today, published by industry leader Gannett Co., kept its place as the largest daily paper in the country and also chalked up a 1 percent gain in circulation to 2,293,137 for the six months ending in September, according to preliminary figures filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations, an industry group based in Schaumburg, Ill.

The Wall Street Journal remained No. 2 in average total paid daily circulation, with 2,011,882, down 1.53 percent. The New York Times was No. 3 at 1,037,828, a decline of 4.5 percent.

In Tucson, the Arizona Daily Star reported average weekday paid circulation of 100,910, down 3.6 percent from the same time last year. The Star's Sunday paid circulation slipped about 3 percent, to 151,996.

The weekday Tucson Citizen reported circulation of 23,279, down 11 percent from last year.

Industrywide, average Sunday print circulation for the six months through September fell 3.5 percent, according to the ABC report.

Newspaper circulation has been eroding steadily over the past 20 years, as reading habits change and as people turn to other media such as cable TV for news. In recent years the declines have been accelerating, especially at large metro papers, where there tends to be greater competition from Internet usage.

There were some exceptions to the rule, including Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times, which saw circulation edge up 0.5 percent in the latest period, to 779,682, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, which clocked a 2.3 percent gain to 338,260.

With print circulation on the decline and more of their readers going online, many newspaper publishers have been seeking to emphasize their online reach. Revenues from online advertising have also been growing for many publishers, but not enough to make up for the declines in print advertising.

In the ABC data released Monday, 112 major papers began reporting for the first time sets of print and online audience measurements based on surveys done by Scarborough Research. Another 94 smaller papers participated partially in the supplemental reporting method.

The new reporting system, called Audience-FAX, is a joint effort by the Newspaper Association of America, a newspaper-industry group; Scarborough Research, a syndicated research firm; and members of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a circulation measurement group whose board includes publishers and major advertisers. The new data also present combined print and online reach.

As an example, The Boston Globe, which is owned by The New York Times Co., reported print readership of 1.9 million in its designated market, meaning the number of people who read the paper, not just those who bought it.

Online readership in the market was 1 million, and combined print and online readership number was 2.3 million, which takes into account the overlap of some people who read both print and online versions of the newspapers.

Several midsized papers ranked high for combined paper and online reach.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle led the top-tier newspaper rankings with an 83 percent reach among adults 18 years old and over. The Star and Citizen combined placed 10th, at 63.7 percent, while the Star alone ranked 15th at 61.2 percent.

Newspaper publishers argue that they should be measured by the size of their audience, as other media such as television are, rather than the number of units they sell.

"This will help give newspapers credibility in selling total audience to advertisers rather than having the focus on print circulation," said John Kimball, chief marketing officer of the Newspaper Association of America. "We want to be judged on total audience."

Newspaper 'reach'

Here is a ranking of newspapers by "integrated audience reach," a new measure that combines print and online readership. The figures represent the percentage of adults in each paper's market that read the paper, visited the paper's Web site, or both, in the past seven days.

Newspaper Percentage reached

1. Rochester (N.Y) Democrat and Chronicle 83%

2. The Des Moines Register 72.7%

3. Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 68.1%

4. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 67.1%

5. San Antonio Express-News 65.8%

6. The Washington Post 65.7%

7. The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky. 64.5%

8. Austin (Texas) American-Statesman 64.2%

9. Honolulu Advertiser 64%

10. Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen 63.7%

15. Arizona Daily Star 61.2%

Source: Audience-FAX