New circulation figures again ugly

[LanceyHoward]

Regarding the top 25 list, the fact that the Chicago Tribune is barely ahead of the Sun-Times just floors me. Not even a decade ago, it wasn't close ... and the Trib had a hell of a lot more than 430,000 in daily circulation.

Still know a few people in Tribune Tower (the empty spaces in that building must be vast by now), and I feel badly for them. They've been sabotaged through no fault of their own by vile, incompetent owners and management.

New ABC rules allow publishers to aggregate newspapers in a market. So the 419,000 reported for the Sun-Times now includes 168,000 from the SouthTown papers.

And I think the Sun-Times is about to fold. The dominance of the Tribune Sunday paper and the broadsheet format will push the Sun-Times into the graveyard. The Rocky Mountain News could not overcome similar handicaps, despite a JOA and a stronger competitive position in the local market than the Sun-Times has.

 

[txsportsscribe]

i have a big problem with inflating the numbers by including branded editions of the usual paper, especially when they are free throws that go right in the garbage can. hell, people hate the dmn's "briefing" so much that some suburban cities have threatened legal action to stop the yard littering with that crap.

 

[JayFarrar]

unless the rules have changed, you still can't count free throws.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

unless the rules have changed, you still can't count free throws.

Freebies don't count. I know a few papers have offered the paper for a penny a day, but that was awhile ago.

 

[fishwrapper]

I think we need more than Groupon-style advertising. I have a feeling Groupon will be a fad that will largely play itself out in the next couple years. Not that I oppose it, our paper is introducing a Groupon knockoff next month and we expect it to be popular.

My gut is after a while nobody is going to pay full price for any luxury expenditures if they can peruse the Groupon-style sites and wait for deals they like. And businesses are going to tire of selling their services for .25 on the dollar.

I agree with this. Except for the part where you dismiss computers, e-commerce, couponing and discounts.

 

[dirtybird]

I find it odd how the Bay Area News Group can combine all three of its big papers. I get that they all share content, but that still comes off as weird.

 

[SF_Express]

First, I was at the L.A. Times when Sunday circulation hit 1.2 million, and daily was just under 1 million, and the damn Orange County Edition, by itself, hit 300,000 on Sunday -- they had T-shirts made. So this is a bit heartbreaking.

As far as getting or not getting a paper, I recently re-upped through June, and spend about an hour each morning with the print product. But it's getting harder and hard to do so.

But still, it's a little more cost effective. If I buy a Zoom or iPad, it will take about three years without a subscription to pay for itself. And I'm going to have to hunt through things more extensively.

I don't think it's old-fogeyism to say that the daily newspaper is still a pretty convenient way of getting a lot of information in a hurry, scanning headlines and pages and things you want to read with no clicks and no paging and you can lounge on the couch or whatever to do so (although you can obviously do that with a portable device, too).

I'll seriously most miss the damn comics page if I give up the daily paper, but if they keep cutting back, something's going to have to give sometime.

 

[nmmetsfan]

I think we need more than Groupon-style advertising. I have a feeling Groupon will be a fad that will largely play itself out in the next couple years. Not that I oppose it, our paper is introducing a Groupon knockoff next month and we expect it to be popular.

My gut is after a while nobody is going to pay full price for any luxury expenditures if they can peruse the Groupon-style sites and wait for deals they like. And businesses are going to tire of selling their services for .25 on the dollar.

I agree with this. Except for the part where you dismiss computers, e-commerce, couponing and discounts.

Interesting how you read that, but it was not in the post.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I don't think it's old-fogeyism to say that the daily newspaper is still a pretty convenient way of getting a lot of information in a hurry, scanning headlines and pages and things you want to read with no clicks and no paging and you can lounge on the couch or whatever to do so (although you can obviously do that with a portable device, too).

I'll seriously most miss the damn comics page if I give up the daily paper, but if they keep cutting back, something's going to have to give sometime.

Amen. I like nothing better than to sit down with four newspapers on a Saturday morning and leaf through them.

But my 16 year son finds my behavior inexplicable, so we both might be guilty of old-fogeyism.

 

[podunk press]

Mobile web is here to stay.

We're sniffing around the idea of getting a Web app, even out here in Podunk.

 

[flexmaster33]

And yet, newspaper Web sites have strong and growing traffic.

Making about $0.000001 per web hit.

With the massive decline in print revenues, check ANY newspaper to see what percentage of its revenue comes from online.

Almost across the board, 11-13 percent. And that number is NOT growing.

And that's the amazing paradox at my shop and others.

We really have a lot to offer on out website. And get a lot of traffic. We put a lot of resources into it . . . and get so little money.

By late 2015, mobile viewership of the internet will be greater than desktop viewership. Seems unfathomable...until you think about it for a minute.

I don't doubt it. But I sure see no reason for it personally. I get no enjoyment out of mobile internet. Everything from smaller screen to ineffective keyboard just make the whole experience unsatisfying compared to sitting at a desk with a large monitor.



Meanwhile, we cannibalize the product that gives us 87 percent of our revenue.

Amen...and what happens to that website that everyone is flooding to for free when the newspaper goes under???

 

[fishwrapper]

I believe we already know the answer to that.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

A week after giving the top 25, they have posted the circ figures for eveyone that's reporting:

http://abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/newsform.asp

You can search by state if you want. Probably it'll be about what you expect.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Is this possible?

TRIBUNE-REVIEW, PITTSBURGH (ALLEGHENY CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 190,625
POST-GAZETTE, PITTSBURGH (ALLEGHENY CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 187,283

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Not to mention Dallas' worst day being Sunday?

MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) SAT M DLY 582,252
MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 404,951
MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) SUN DLY 375,100

 

[secretariat]

Not to mention Dallas' worst day being Sunday?

MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) SAT M DLY 582,252
MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 404,951
MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) SUN DLY 375,100

I wonder if it's a combination of Friday prep football and/or them having a free edition with one (1) ad that allows them to fold it into their circulation numbers. Several papers have been using that trick to juke the stats.

 

[slappy4428]

My first paper has lost half its circulation in 25 years...

 

[Football_Bat]

Not to mention Dallas' worst day being Sunday?

MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) SAT M DLY 582,252
MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) AVG M (M-F) DLY 404,951
MORNING NEWS, DALLAS (DALLAS CO.) SUN DLY 375,100

I wonder if it's a combination of Friday prep football and/or them having a free edition with one (1) ad that allows them to fold it into their circulation numbers. Several papers have been using that trick to juke the stats.

Jacking the newsstand price to $3 may have something to do with it.

 

[Ice9]

Count me among those floored by the Globe's decline.

This is what happens when you cut the paper in half, double the price and run off your core readership.

Globe has had this coming, for the reasons you just alluded to. But within this board, probably a shock to the generation that grew up with the Globe when they were the Yankees of sportswriting. To an extent, they still view themselves as a national newspaper based in Boston, which was OK in 1991 but not 2011 when we're getting our national news elsewhere. In the sports department, I don't understand why they still have national writers on the pro beats, though I will admit Kevin Paul Dupont's NHL notes are great.