New circulation figures again ugly

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/Headlines/abc-releases-fasfax-reports-64937-.aspx#

TOP 25 U.S. DAILY NEWSPAPERS
By total average circulation



1. Wall Street Journal; 2,117,796
2. USA Today; 1,829,099
3. New York Times; 916,911
4. Los Angeles Times; 605,243
5. San Jose Mercury News; 577,665 (including 370,126 from branded editions)
6. Washington Post; 550,821
7. New York Daily News; 530,924
8. New York Post; 522,874
9. Chicago Tribune; 437,205
10. Chicago Sun-Times; 419,409 (168,299)
11. Dallas Morning News; 404,951 (153,441)
12. Houston Chronicle; 364,724 (40,726)
13. Philadephia Inquirer; 343,710 (71,128)
14. Arizona Republic; 337,170
15. Denver Post; 324,970
16. Newsday; 298,759
17. Star Tribune; 296,605
18. St. Petersburg Times; 292,441 (17,249)
19. Oregonian; 260,248
20. Cleveland Plain Dealer; 254,372
21. Seattle Times; 253,742
22. Detroit Free Press; 246,169
23. San Francisco Chronicle; 235,350
24. Newark Star Ledger; 229,255
25. Boston Globe; 219,214



TOP 25 U.S. SUNDAY NEWSPAPERS
By total average circulation



1. New York Times; 1,339,462
2. Los Angeles Times; 948,889
3. Washington Post; 852,861 (including 101,448 from branded editions)
4. Chicago Tribune; 780,601
5. San Jose Mercury News; 636,999 (400,129)
6. Detroit Free Press; 614,226 (133,883)
7. Houston Chronicle; 587,984 (75,842)
8. New York Daily News; 584,658
9. Denver Post; 519,838 (36,641)
10. Star Tribune; 516,134 (20,095)
11. Arizona Republic; 511,764
12. Philadelphia Inquirer; 488,287
13. St. Petersburg Times; 429,048
14. Chicago Sun-Times; 421,453 (170,545)
15. Cleveland Plain Dealer; 403,001 (60,318)
16. Atlanta Journal-Constitution; 391,815
17. Dallas Morning News; 375,100 (12,131)
18. Newsday; 362,221
19. St. Louis Post-Dispatch; 360,450
20. Boston Globe; 356,632
21. New York Post; 355,784
22. Seattle Times; 346,991
23. Baltimore Sun; 343,552
24. Newark Star-Ledger; 337,416
25. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; 333,999

 

Branded Editions: The Repo 105 of Journalism!

 

When the Herald had its big reduction in force in 2005 and I was among the reduced, the paper's circulation had fallen dramatically to a little less than 240,000 -- or more than Globe has now. Yikes.

 

Is there any comprehensive staffer data for these newspapers? Curious what the circulation:newsroom ratio is.

 

The Boston Globe numbers are stunning. I'm even more surprised that the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel don't crack the top 25.

 

Sun Sentinel has consistently ranked about 35-40. Never approached top 25 even during snowbird season.

Last daily number for Miami Herald I saw was around 160,000, a staggering drop from just a few years ago.

 

I don't know what's so surprising about this.

I don't know a single person my age (20s) who owns a newspaper subscription. The only ones that buy them do so because they love couponing. Don't even look at the stories.

 

To be fair, ABC changed its metrics, and thus a 20,000 "decline" may not be any decline at all. They're just counting differently.

That's always been true, though.

 

FWIW, WSJ's number includes digital subscribers, while USAT doesn't have digital subscribers but is the most widely circulated print edition in the country. Also FWIW, both WSJ and USAT give away a ton of papers.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if their numbers dropped by 500,000 once you took out the numbers of papers given away to business schools (WSJ) and hotels (USAT) throughout the country.

 

ouch