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Regis Philbin
Apr 27th, 2009, 07:46 PM
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-newspaper-circulation-sees-apf-15039695.html?.v=6

US newspaper circulation sees biggest decline yet

US newspaper circulation falls 7.1 percent in Oct-March period, marking biggest decline yet

Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer
On Monday April 27, 2009, 7:10 pm EDT

U.S. newspapers are losing circulation faster than ever, compounding the pain of an industry reeling from even larger drops in the advertising revenue that pays most of the bills.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations said Monday that average sales of newspapers declined 7.1 percent in the October-March period from the same six-month span in 2007-2008. The comparison is drawn from 395 daily U.S. newspapers that reported in both periods.

It's the most severe downturn since newspaper circulation began to crumble in the early 1990s. The erosion has been accelerating during the recession of the past 16 months: U.S. newspaper circulation decreased 4.6 percent in the April-September period of 2008 after falling 3.6 percent in the October 2007-March 2008 span.

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That was slightly ahead of The Wall Street Journal, one of only two newspapers among the 25 largest to avoid a decline in weekday circulation. Boosted by online subscriptions -- which count in the ABC numbers if the Internet readers are paying -- and a push to supplement its financial coverage with more general-interest news, The Wall Street Journal's weekday circulation averaged 2.08 million -- a 0.6 percent increase.

Richard Tafoya
Apr 27th, 2009, 07:52 PM
And it's because more people are getting their news online.

Editor and Publisher:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003964591

Overall, three-quarters of the top 30 online newspapers experienced double-digit growth in March year-over-year. The New York Times still leads the list and was up 7%. Yet today it reports that its online ad revenue in the 1Q sank about 8%.

McClatchy papers News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. and The Miami Herald zoomed up the list in March. The News & Observer increased its unique users by 106% to 1.6 million compared to the same period a year ago. At the Miami Herald, unique audience advanced 85% to 2.6 million.

Below is the latest list of top 30 newspaper Web sites based on U.S. panels and ranked by unique audience for March. The percent change compares March 2009 to March 2008. Please note that starting with the March list, Nielsen is excluding newspaper groups. Also keep in mind there are several reasons why traffic fluctuates, including news events.


NYTimes.com -- 20,118,000 -- 7%
USATODAY.com -- 9,961,000 -- (-7%)
washingtonpost.com -- 9,367,000 -- 5%
Wall Street Journal Online -- 9,192,000 -- 34%
LA Times -- 8,643,000 -- 51%

Boston.com -- 5,742,000 -- 37%
Daily News Online Edition -- 5,658,000 -- 71%
Chicago Tribune -- 5,270,000 -- 38%
SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle -- 4,227,000 -- 11%
New York Post -- 3,827,000 -- (-18%)

DallasNews.com - The Dallas Morning News -- 3,536,000 -- 30%
The Houston Chronicle -- 3,095,000 -- 15%
Newsday -- 3,065,000 -- (-5%)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- 3,041,000 -- 28%
Politico -- 3,033,000 -- 45%

Chicago Sun-Times -- 2,737,000 -- 24%
MiamiHerald.com -- 2,686,000 -- 85%
Star Tribune -- 2,360,000 -- 34%
The Seattle Times -- 2,262,000 -- 70%
International Herald Tribune -- 1,984,000 -- (-23%)

NJ.com -- 1,897,000 -- 39%
Orlando Sentinel -- 1,851,000 -- 13%
Azcentral.com -- 1,805,000 -- (-10%)
The Washington Times -- 1,753,000 -- 35%
The News & Observer -- 1,665,000 -- 106%

tampabay.com -- 1,649,000 -- (-14%)
Cleveland.com -- 1,586,000 -- 9%
MercuryNews.com -- 1,556,000 -- (-6%)
KansasCity.com -- 1,552,000 -- 10%
MLive.com -- 1,531,000 -- 39%